After 8 years of competing at the Dalhousie annual Spring Invitational Tournament, held in Halifax March 16-18, the Saint John Water Polo players finally took the cup home. They won every game in the round robin, although at times the team had to overcome adversity after getting scored on early.
The combined team of Stadacona/NFLD was their first opponent on Friday night. Stadacona was missing three key players, including their experienced goalie, and Saint John easily won the game by a score of 23-1. It proved to be the only easy game of the tournament. On Saturday, they came back to beat Tracadie 6-5 on a couple of late goals, beat Dalhousie 4-2 in a close fought game, and last played the Golden Girlz, a women’s team mainly consisting of ex-national players. After a rocky start, Saint John came back to win that game by one goal, 6-5. The team played solidly during the round robin and almost every player scored goals. Great team effort!
After a bye in the semi-final round, Saint John played the host team, Dalhousie, for the final. It was a very close game, with Saint John managing to pull ahead only in the last quarter. The score at the end of each quarter (SJ shown first) was 1-1, 2-2, 4-4 and a final score of 9-6. Goals in the final game were scored by Alex Martineau (3), Dave Fenicky(3), Steve Forgeron(1), Eric Chisholm(1) and Daniel Halls(1).
Congratulations Saint John!