The South Shore Bantam AA Ice Sharks came to the Hants Exhibition Arena Dec. 30 with one clear thought in mind — to defeat the Windsor-West Hants Warriors, which they did 8-0.
The Ice Sharks are a hard skating, hard shooting team which showed no mercy despite the fact the Warriors were coming off a month of turmoil involving parents, players and the coaching staff. After an investigation by Hockey Nova Scotia, any apparent misunderstandings which had previously existed were cleared up and the local Bantam AA Warriors were able to hit the ice once again. When they hit the ice however, they were overwhelmed by the South Shore club, who took period leads of 2-0 and 6-0.
The South Shore is the dominant first place team in Bantam AA hockey, having lost only once in 20 games to date this season. They also have the league's top three scorers who have combined for a total of 101 points.
West Hants fell to 2-8-1 with the loss.
Despite the goals he gave up, Marshall Gordon still came up with saves above and beyond the normal call of duty, taking a blistering shot off his mask in the first period.
South Shore displayed an excellent heads-up style of hockey and knew what they were doing seemingly at all times on the ice.
The second goal for the visitors came on a rocket shot from the point late in the first, which seemed to hit something at the last second before entering the Windsor-West Hants net behind Gordon. The Warriors were about to take a slashing penalty when the South Shore team went up 5-0 in the second period.
Seth Brison and Michael "Bobby Orr" Dill were the two most impressive players for the hometown team but they were neutralized a good portion of the time by the South Shore, although Brison and Dill showed at different times that they could bring the puck to the net.
Devon Dunfield had one good scoring chance for West Hants but he ended up coming in too close to the net before taking his shot, making the visiting goalie's job somewhat easier. Tristin Horner had another chance when he was standing alone in front of the South Shore net and took a pass but could not get a clean shot away.
The Warriors were scheduled to have games against Truro and Amherst prior to returning back to school Jan. 4.
The Warriors next see action at home Jan. 9 when they take on Truro at 3 p.m. On Jan. 15, they will travel to Pictou County for a game against the Crushers.
