It was a great weekend in the pool for the Estevan Sharks Water Polo Club as they travelled to Saskatoon with five teams and they all came home with medals at the Provincial Tournament at the Shaw Centre.
As an organization, the Sharks also won the high points trophy for both the Atom Division and the Bantam Division teams.
The atom division sent two teams to provincials. The Estevan Sharks atom boys team consisted of eight players coached by David Dzeryk and Jason Dalziel. On Saturday the Atoms started the day with a 15-5 win against Saskatoon. With seven players in the pool and only one sub they were off to a great start.
In between atom games, five members on the team went on to play a pair of matches in the bantam division. Having played back to back games with little or no break, they displayed stamina in their second atom game of the day where they won 15-12 against Weyburn. Sunday morning had the boys up early where they played Armada and won 14-7, and advanced to the final. The five senior Atoms went on to play another two matches for Bantam before playing their final game in the Atom division. The atom boys ended the weekend undefeated as they dominated armada with a 14-3 victory, bringing home the gold medal and overall Atom trophy.
The atom girls played three exciting games against the Regina team, and an exhibition game against the U14 all-star team. Due to the storm that hit on Friday the team was missing two strong players, but they picked up Sara Kelln, an all-star out of Weyburn. The girls kept up with the strong Regina team, matching them goal for goal in two games. Sunday morning, the girls were back on deck by 7:30am to face a U14 squad in an exhibition game. It was fun for the girls to play a more experienced team. Sunday at noon was the gold medal game. At half time the girls were up 9-8. Prysm Gooding was outstanding in net and Emily Sauder lad the scoring. With one minute left in the fourth quarter the Sharks were down by one. Coach Dave Dzeryk called a time out. The girls, caught their breath, re-grouped and prepared their final play: They took a risk and had Gooding play mid Pool, giving them an extra attacker. The Regina goalie was amazing and stopped 3 hard shots from the Sharks. When the final buzzer sounded, the Sharks lost 13-12. They were bringing home a silver medal. Together the boys and girls points earned them the High Point team trophy for the atoms at provincials.
The bantam Sharks also had two teams in provincials. The bantam boys Sharks went in playing hard for the wins and pulled it off. They started the weekend off by playing the Weyburn Hurricanes and took that game with a score of 20-11. The second time they played the Hurricanes they took that game as well 14-6. The boys then played the Armada team and won 15-5 with the help of Cameron Gillingham playing sterling defence and assisting in many of the goals. Their last game of the weekend was against Armada, and it was a little tougher game. The boys stayed consistent though and won 7-5, earning them the gold medal. The bantam girls won their first game with a score of 8-5 and tied their second game 2-2. After the round robin play they ended up in the gold medal game but fell short in the shootout and ended up with a silver medal and a score of 9-8 against Regina Armada. The Sharks played a really dynamic game in the medal finals and with Mikayla Hack slamming the net with her strong arm the Sharks came home satisfied with their showing this weekend. Together the boys and girls points earned them the high point team trophy for the bantams at provincials!
The Estevan Shark cadet girls won both of their games this weekend 8-5 but in the gold medal game they fell short with a 4-3 loss against Regina and came home with the silver medal.
