Wildcats, Jr. Sharks skate to silver at Tier II nationals T
WAH Ad_Rubber Magazine_February
2012.indd 1 By Larry O’Connor
he Wildcats Hockey Club and San Jose Jr. Sharks ventured deep into
the recent Tier II USA Hockey National Tournament, finishing as silver medal- ists in their respective divisions. The Wildcats’ Pee Wee AA 2000 team
lost to Colorado’s DU Jr. Pioneers, 6-2, in the 12U championship game in Ashburn, Va., on April 1, while the Jr. Sharks’ 16U AA girls squad ran out of time in its final, battling back from a two-goal deficit as sisters Hana (two goals) and Keiko De- Clerck (goal, two assists) combined for a remarkable five-point performance. Keiko’s clutch tally with 37 seconds
left only heightened the tension in a 4-3 loss to the Connecticut Polar Bears. Amid the heartbreak, though, Cali-
fornia’s Tier II, high school and women teams performed admirably during na- tionals, which ran from March 29-April 1 at various locations around the country. No team matched the drama supplied by the Jr. Sharks’ 16U girls, though. The Nor Cal contingent advanced to
the finals in Frisco, Texas, after gutting out a 4-3 OT victory over the Potsdam (New York) Ice Storm in the semis. Keiko DeClerck set the tone, scoring a goal and adding an assist against Pots- dam, while Hana, who is only 13 years old, also scored. However, Leila Kilduff supplied the
heroics, depositing the game-winner with 7:31 left in the first OT. Rachel Cor- ranza and Taylor Chisolm set up the crucial goal.
Leaving it late became the Jr. Sharks’
The San Jose Jr. Sharks’ 16U AA girls team knocked off some stiff competition recently in Texas on its way to the national title game in its division.
hallmark at nationals. “They showed great poise and deter- mination,” said Karl Schoech, the Jr. Sharks’ 16U AA girls coach. “They were warrior-like in their effort. They never gave up.” In the quarterfinals, the team pulled out a 2-1 double-OT victory over the Mount Clemens (Michigan) Wolves. Lau- ra Thacker scored the game-deciding goal with 3:31 left in the second extra ses- sion. Captain Emma Griese and Sarah Preeo assisted on the pivotal goal. In a 3-2 OT win against the Brews-
ter (New York) Bulldogs, Thacker again supplied the tie-breaking goal in the first extra period with Kilduff assisting. Against Assabet Valley, the Jr.
Sharks relied on the heroics of goaltender Natalie Stevenson, who turned back 17 shots in a 3-0 shutout victory. Chisolm, Griese and Kilduff supplied the goals. The Jr. Sharks’ lone loss in pool play came in a 3-2 shootout to Potsdam. “I think the amazing thing is we beat Mount Clemens out of Michigan, we beat the Assabet team out of Massachusetts and we beat the two New York teams. “The one team we lost to in overtime
we ended up beating in the semifinal,” Schoech said. “What I think is amazing is a little team from California - a young and inexperienced team (seven players are 14 or younger) - beat some of the pow- erhouse clubs in the hotbeds of hockey. I’m really proud of the girls.”
2/27/12 10:50 AM
On the boys side, the Wildcats pow- ered through pool play, going 3-0, while posting wins in the quarterfinals (3-0 over Colorado’s Boulder Bison) and semi- finals (4-2 over the Chicago Bruins) en route to the title game. Tanner Ensign led the team of-
fensively with eight goals for 15 points. Drake Usher (eight goals, 12 points) re- corded a hat trick in an 8-1 throttling of the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Scorpions. Goalten- der Jared Levine stopped 25 shots and assisted on Benjamin Snyder’s goal in the shutout over Boulder. In the semis, Ensign’s goal with 34
seconds left in the first period held up as the decider as the Wildcats outlasted the Bruins.
Stanislav Demin and Vladimir
Fadeev’s first-period goals (Austin Fos- ter assisted on both) proved essential as Chicago scored twice to pull within one before Usher provided an insurance marker with 4:29 left. James Cates III (four goals, 14 points) also registered two assists.
“We’re extremely proud of the accom-
plishments of our 2000 AA team,” Wild- cats president Ben Frank said. “Not only was their success impressive com- peting against predominantly 99 teams in CAHA and at nationals, but their hard work and dedication over the years with the Wildcats that built them up to this amazing season is a perfect example for the young players in our club about what can be accomplished with exemplary ef- fort and attitude.
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