After a lengthy break over Christmas, the mini-atom and atom Estevan Sharks water polo teams were once again in action at a tournament in Weyburn on Jan. 24.
The Sharks submitted four teams in the tournament across 3 divisions of play.
The mini-atom Sharks came together as a team during the day and, after they began with a 4-1 loss to Regina, they came back winning 4-0 against Weyburn, 3-2 against Regina and recording a 2-2 tie with Weyburn.
Emily Sauder and Isabella Pelletier led the way in scoring this weekend for the mini Sharks. Their coach, Lucinda Milford, looks forward to all the players returning to the team next season where they will all be veterans on what looks to be a strong minis team. This was the last tournament for the mini-atoms this season.
In the atom division, the Sharks had two teams in Division 1 and one team in Division 2. In Division 1, the Sharks began play against each other with the atom girls and atom boys competing. After a strong game from both teams, the Sharks girls won 6-2 over the boys.
The Sharks boys then played Regina where they once again fell short 5-3, but bounced back in their final round-robin game where they defeated the Hurricanes 11-5 with three goals each from Cameron Gillingham, Logan Dalziel and Lucas Dzeryk. This put them in the semifinals where they lost 9-7 to the Hurricanes, despite the heroics of Sharks goalkeeper Kristian Baniulis.
The Sharks girls continued their strong offensive play against Weyburn where they won 14-5 with Alex Andrist scoring six goals and Mikayla Hack potting four. Their final game was against Regina where they lost 5-4 to Regina, despite battling hard defensively. That put the girls team in the final game, but they fell short 5-4 against Regina once again.
In Division 2, the Sharks started out by winning 16-1 against the Hurricanes with Lyndon Sauder and Ethan Elliot leading the team in goals. Their next game against Regina would not come so easy as they were defeated 6-2, but they bounced right back and won 11-9 against Regina.
This put them in the finals where they lost 9-7 against Regina. The coaches of the Atoms, David Dzeryk and Jason Dalziel, were pleased with how the kids played together as a team and commented on how you can finally see the plays they are taught during practice coming into action during the games.
They are all looking forward to their final tournament of the regular season in Regina this March. Kids interested in joining the Sharks can come down to the RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings to watch the swimmers practice.
