Gray Sabres overpower Sharks on Feature Rink

The Squirt Gray Sabres faced the Sharks on the Feature Rink on Sunday. When the game ended, the Gray Sabres had skated their way to an 11-2 victory.

The Gray Sabres were aggressive from the drop of the puck. Having learned from their defeat a week earlier, they played with ferocious intensity, scoring just 36 seconds into the game.

The goal by Katelyn Koester was a result of an aggressive forecheck by Angelo Derossi and Joe Arias, who assisted.

Approximately two minutes later, Antonio Zendano, feeding off the energy from the previous goal, found the back of the net with assists to Jack Cooper and Connor Koester.

For a while it seemed like the Sharks had found their equilibrium. Ben Wald, Cameron Czora, Nasir Dara, Nick Peters, and Girard Marotto peppered shots on Gray Sabre goalie Joe Burke but he was up to the task. As the period neared the end, Koester again found the scoring touch on the power play, finishing off a rebound with assists to Derossi and Peter Gossels.

The crowd had hardly touched their seats before Benjamin Lackner scored his first goal with assists to Justin Beck and Marc Giangreco.

The second period began like the first. Gabe Jewula scored, with assists to Benjamin Lackner and JB Beck, on a rush 1:17 into the period. About a minute later, Austin Maciok stick-handled his way into the Sharks zone and fired a shot into the top corner. He was assisted by Zendano and Brian Kowalski.

The Sharks broke up the shutout when Tim Kreuz scored an unassisted goal on a fantastic individual effort.

Less than a minute later, Giangreco collected the puck in his own defensive zone, skated through the entire Sharks team and beat goalie Alex Bender, on a deke.

The crowd was still buzzing when Arias scored off some fantastic passing between himself, Koester and Derossi. Less than a minute later, Lackner scored his second of the game as he parked himself in perfect position near the goal post to redirect a perfect pass from Jewula. JB Beck also recorded an assist.

The Sharks continued to skate hard as Joe Kramer, Jeff Terragnoli, and Brendan Quagliana kept the pressure on the Sabres.

The final goal of the period was scored by Zendano, his second, as he curled out from the corner and lifted a backhand inside the near post. He was assisted by Austin Maciok and Kowalski.

In the third period, the Sharks defense of Colin Lawrence, Nick Vermilye, Chris Horton, Nick Bucello, and Mathias Williams made play after play to foil the Gray Sabres. It also saw the first ice time for Jacob Mogerman, a recent call-up.

The Sharks once again relied on Kreuz for their scoring tallying another unassisted goal. The final Gray Sabres goal was scored by Derossi on a pretty breakaway pass from Gossels. Jack Cooper also assisted on the play. Emma Hubert played a solid game, shifting from defense to forward as needed.