By Nathan Kanter

Sharks explode for 18 goals in weekend wins

Jan 9, 2017 | 2:03 PM

The Battlefords AAA Sharks were itching to get back to the ice following their winter break and it showed in their two weekend wins over Weyburn, 8-2 on Saturday and 10-2 on Sunday.

“We beat them to pucks and we out-hustled them and any time that you’re outworking you’re opponent, you’re going to have success,” Sharks head coach Gary Berggren said on Monday. “When [the girls] came back after Christmas they were hungry and ready to go and it showed on the ice for sure.”

Ten different players registered at least a point in each win, and nine different players had a multi-point night in at least one of the games.

But a few players in particular stood out.

Captain Jordan Kulbida found the back of the net five times in total, including a hat trick on Sunday, while rookie Madison Sansom had two goals and an assist and Ali Aitken tallied a goal and three helpers.

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“[Kulbida] played the two best games of the year for her by far. She was super impressive to watch,” Berggren said. “She skated really really well and of course she’s got a hard shot that goalies have trouble with at the best of times.

“Samson played really well and Ali Aitken had probably her two best games of the year too. So when you have multiple players having their best games of the year, that’s when you see scores like we did on the weekend,” said Berggren.

The defence and goaltending was also solid.

Chloe Burt made 37 saves on 39 shots on Saturday, while Chantel Weller stopped 23 of 25 shots she faced on Sunday.

“Our last six, eight games, they’ve played really really well,” Berggren said of his rookie netminders. “Goaltending has been good all year and this weekend our defence was really good and obviously the forwards were clicking because we did score 18 goals.”

In the standings, Battlefords remains in seventh place with a 5-11-0-1 record.

They will head to Regina next weekend for a couple of games against the Regina Rebels, currently in fourth place.

The two clubs have faced off twice this season, with Regina winning by three in both games, 3-0 and 6-3 at Battleford Arena.

“Right now, the girls are in high spirits and we’ll for sure go into Regina and try and bring the same intensity and the same work ethic and we’ll see how things go,” Berggren said. “The last couple times we played Regina we thought we maybe should have had a better outcome in the game – we played them really hard and played them well but hopefully this weekend we’ll be able to give them a better go.”

The Saturday game is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. while Sunday’s game is set for 12:15 p.m.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11