The Estevan atom Sharks captured gold for the fourth time in a row at the provincial championships in Saskatoon this past weekend.
The Sharks began the provincial championships with a demanding 26-0 lead against the Weyburn Hurricanes thanks to 10 goals from Tristan Threinen. This dominance in the water continued into their second game, and with Katryna Heleta in net all weekend, they secured another win of 16-6 against the Saskatoon Pirates. The defensive play of Cameron Gillingham was a big factor in their opponents only scoring six goals.
“Cameron was everywhere that we needed him to be, it was awesome," said Sharks coach Dave Dzeryk. "Between Cameron on defense and Mikayla Hack on offense the team had two great leaders in the water.”
“When you see Mikayla come up to the net and do her cobra shot on the goalie, it’s like she puts them in a trance.”, added coach Jason Dalziel.
This win put the Sharks in top spot in their round-robin division giving confidence to the group going into Sunday’s semifinals against the Regina Armada G team.
“The kids started scoring goals that we wouldn’t have expected them to make," said Dalziel. "Logan Dalziel got a rebound shot that was amazing and Lucas Dzeryk shot a goal into the net that was almost from the centre line. You just don’t expect kids this age to be pulling out tricks like these during a game”
The team beat the Regina Armada 16-2 and moved into the finals later that day against a tough Saskatoon Pirates team. The first period was tight, ending tied 1-1, but a pep talk between periods calmed the nerves of the players and teamwork shone through once again from everyone.
“There was one play where Abbygael Birnie stole the ball from the Pirates right in front of our net," said Dzeryk. "She knew she couldn’t swim it up to our end, so she passed it across to Maria Baniulis who then passed it back to Abby once she cleared up and was closer to the (net). That’s the kind of teamwork you like to see. All the kids were playing for the team and not just for the goal. I was very proud of them.”
This teamwork led the Sharks to a 14-5 victory and a provincial gold medal.
The atom Sharks had another team entered in the tournament, but they did not make the finals. However, they did beat the Weyburn Hurricanes 10-4 in the semifinals, which allowed them to leave on a positive note.
The bantam boys Sharks also competed at provincials and came home with a bronze medal. They played tight games all weekend, but fell short in three games. The Sharks lost 13-7 to the Regina Armada, 9-7 to the Weyburn Hurricanes and finally 10-8 against the Hurricanes once again in the semifinals.
