The Home Hardware Squamish Atom Rep Eagles truly soared this past weekend with two monumental victories over the Arbutus Club to finish off the league tiering round with four wins and four losses. Including exhibition games and a Thanksgiving tournament, the Atom Rep Eagles are 8-7-1 overall after 16 games.
Saturday night's solid performance resulted in a 10-2 win over Arbutus. Right winger Brendan Hopkins led the team with the hat trick. Linemate Jarid Lukosevicius popped in two and team captain Brodyn Nielsen assisted on all five goals. Winger Austin Evans' dogged determination resulted in a birthday goal, as it was his 10th birthday that same night, while his linemate Jesse Penner provided a second goal.
Centreman Jonathan Webber's offensive talents and two-way play was crucial to his line's success, including a goal of his own. Winger Kip Shortreed took a breakaway pass from Squamish newcomer Tyler Hall and battled to the net to get the shot off. Hall scored on the rebound.
Led by second-year player Lucas Conway, the defense, dubbed the "Fantastic Four", put up the stone wall all weekend in the Squamish end. Rounding out the defense were Liam Shard, Graham Raschella and Owen Scully. Said head coach Joe Webber: "With only four defencemen, one of them in his first Atom year, there is little to no room for the defence to start making mistakes. With only four players rotating between two shifts, these guys have to stay on their toes and keep their heads in the game. So far this year they haven't let us down."
Sunday saw a second stellar performance by Squamish in an 8-1 victory over the same Arbutus Club. More solid goaltending from Goalie Russell Sanderson was key, allowing only three goals in both games combined. Captain Brodyn Nielsen led the win with four goals. A second weekend goal from Austin Evans and another goal from Penner strengthened this line's reliability. Once again, Tyler Hall was a tiger at centre ice, setting up linemates Kip Shortreed and Quinn Moberg for two more on the board.
"The team just keeps getting stronger," stated assistant coach Rick Nielsen. "It's hard for the coaches to pick out any one player as the "star", because they really are playing as a unit; as a team." Assistant coach Dan Moberg puts the team's ability for two way play as a prime reason for its success.
The coaching staff, acknowledged the generous contribution by Squamish MarketPlace IGA of off-ice warm up suits. "It really was more than we expected," stated the coaches. "Thanks Shane and Nikki!"
Regular season play gets under way Monday (Nov. 15) once all tiering in the division is completed, scores tallied and schedules distributed. Squamish Atom Rep home ice games are Sunday afternoons at 2:40 p.m.
