'Their Own Little Miracle': Youth Hockey Team Brings Home The Gold From Lake Placid
The Canal Sharks Squirt A Youth Hockey Team returned home victorious from Lake Placid, New York, this weekend after earning themselves the gold medal at the Can/Am Lake Placid Challenge Cup Tournament.
The team is part of the Cape Cod Youth Hockey organization and is made up of 13 boys between grades 3 and 5. The team comprises of players from Bourne, Sandwich, and Wareham. Last Thursday, the U10A Canal Sharks team and their families headed north to the Winter Olympic Village of Lake Placid.
No one was expecting a perfect performance because, as they say, it’s all for the love of the game. But players and parents alike were ecstatic as the Canal Sharks worked their way through the tournament weekend, winning game after game.
“We went up there not really expecting anything. Most of the other teams were club teams,” said Emily Berry, parent of a Sharks player. Club teams, she explained, tend to be hand-picked teams comprising the top players of a town or region.
“We were this little town team and we just dominated the tournament,” she said. “It was awesome.”
The Canal Sharks team went on the be undefeated through four regular games and a championship game, earning themselves the gold medal. There was a shootout contest for both players and goalies, in which Sharks Patrick Adams and Giovanni Klucevsek placed first and second, respectively. The Sharks also performed well in the relay contest, with players Noah Snell, Nolan Berry, Ronan Harmon and Quinn Harmon earning second place in the first round.
Can/Am runs various hockey programs for both youth and adults at different locations throughout the country. Last weekend, thousands of hockey players descended on Lake Placid, where a series of Challenge Cups are being held throughout the rest of the year.
Ms. Berry said she speaks on behalf of all the Sharks’ parents when she says how proud she is of the youth hockey team and, more generally, of the success of the youth hockey program as a whole.
“Everyone is just so proud of this little team,” she said.
The team has three coaches on its roster: Jared Kent, Ron Snell, and Matthew Wahlers. Both Mr. Kent and Mr. Snell played hockey at Bourne High School and are both listed as two of the team’s All-Time Leading Scorers with 101 and 104 points, respectively.
Overall, the weekend was a win both on and off the ice, Ms. Berry said. The team spent the entire weekend together, from meals to games and everything in between. Whenever the players weren’t on the ice, Ms. Berry said, they’d flock to the hotel’s rec room to play floor hockey. The Sharks even brought their own mascots—a baby shark and a big shark.
“It was just such a great experience for the kids,” Ms. Berry said. “The biggest part of this, to me, is that it is such a huge accomplishment, and the fact that they got to play on the Olympic ice. They all watched ‘Miracle [On Ice].’ They all love that movie and this was like their own little Miracle: to have this little town team win against all these club teams on the Olympic Ice in Lake Placid, New York.”