North Ayrshire Ice Hockey Club hosted part one of their annual Sam Wallace Memorial Tournament at the weekend.
Whitley Bay, Sheffield, Manchester, Murrayfield, Belfast and Ayr all sent teams to compete at Auchenharvie ice rink making it the club’s busiest to date.
Two action packed days saw 15 teams play 40 games with 188 goals scored in the process.
The tournament was held at u11, u15 and u20s levels with teams playing a round-robin format to decided the six semi-finalists.
North Ayshire’s three sides all made it to the last four but it was the U15s Predators who went all the way to end the weekend with a trophy.
They edged past Belfast Giants in the semis courtesy of a 1-0 win before beating Whitley Bay Thomahawks 3-0 in the final to claim the silverware
North Ayrshire’s U11 Penguins were knocked out by unbeaten English national champions Sheffield Thunder, putting in a brave display despite the 8-0 semi-final scoreline. Thunder went on to beat Manchester Storm 4-0 in the final.
The U20s North Ayrshire Devils lost a nail-biting last four clash against Whitley Bay Renegades who claimed a 2-1 win with a goal just 17 seconds from the buzzer.
The Renegades beat Sheffield Scimitars 1-0 in the final thanks to an overtime goal.
Five North Ayrshire players were selected by their opponents to be part of the All Star dream team. Net minder Caiden MacColl and forward Rocco Murray made the U11s select while Defenceman Jack Neil was picked for the U15s all star team and netminder Jack French and Ryan A Campbell made the cut for the U20s.
North Ayrshire Ice Hockey Club would like to thank Tesco in Saltcoats for their donation of fresh fruit and bottles of water for all the players to enjoy.
This weekend will see a further 35 games played in the final part of the tournament as U9s, U13s and U18s teams take to the ice.
The action starts at Auchenharvie on Saturday from 8am. Day tickets are £8 and £5 concession or £15/£8 for the whole weekend.
