The early morning game saw a battle of 4 th and 6 th as the Chia yi Sharks took on the resurgent Raptors, who were looking to move up the standings. To shake things up, Raptors Coach Ross Kolton opted-out of starting league-leading scorer Mal Turner; “With his marathon shifts, I have to get ice time in for the other guys wherever I can,” said the team leader who often finds himself the object of Vice-commissioner Geoff LeCren’s complaints.

When Turner was able to squeeze his way onto the ice, he sent Murray Richardson in on a breakaway, league-leading ‘tender Greg Macintosh was up to the task though and Raptors’ Bob Ford was unable to pot the rebound. Teams then exchanged 2 on 1s, one with Turner (who didn’t pass) and the Sharks’ with Robison and Stever working well to test goalie Cuvilier. Cuvilier looked shaky earlier on, but managed to keep zeros on the board for the time being.

The Raptors were the first break the deadlock at 11:20 when Kolton bounced a harmless looking shot in from the point. Macintosh was unable to deal with the rebound and Richardson made no mistake from the far side of the net.

Four minutes later, the Sharks responded with two identical goals. Working from the corner to the right of the Raps net, quick passes by Robison, to Stever, to the over-achieving Ronan Wilson to finish out front. Clearly innumerable hours of playing with balls down south have given the Sharks an edge.

The Raps responded to tie the game 5 minutes into the second. Richardson faked the shot coming over the line then made a great pass to Turner who buried the biscuit past a sprawling Macintosh (additional assist; B.Ford). 10 minutes later, Robison buries one past Cuvilier five hole on a shot the netminder would probably like another chance at (A. Kennedy).

With two minutes left in the second, the Raps were able to tie it up at 3 when Kory Frame found a wide-open Turner out front. Nice D Sharks, we all realize Mal falls below average person’s sightline, but how could you miss that bucket?

A minute into the final stanza, Cuvilier makes news again by getting called for a completely unnecessary face-wash on Rock-star Ronan Wilson. The Sharks worked quickly as Stever won the draw back to Steve Mossing, who wired one top-cheese from the point (cue puckering forwards) to put the Sharks ahead early.

Cuvilier was then able to redeem himself somewhat on a two on one by the Sharks dynamic local duo of Hubert Li and Peter Wu with a good pad save. Li showed good patience on the play, leaving most hoping that perhaps he is pulling out of his funk after enjoying much success early on in the season.

With 10 minutes remaining, Raptors Marcus Maidment made a great rush by bowling first over Matt Stever, then Steve Mossing, and was still able to hold onto the puck to roll one past Macintosh. Mal followed suit 2 minutes later to take the lead by absolutely undressing the Sharks D.

With three minutes remaining, the Sharks took a time out to discuss how they could give-up another goal to Turner to seal the game and effectively did so, allowing the hard-working forward to walk through the porous D and put the Raps up by 2 (A.Frame). All over but the crying for the Sharks who missed a golden opportunity to move up and take their expected place as one of the better teams in the league.

Three Stars:

#1 Mal Turner – Raptors

#2 Murray Richardson - Raptors

#3 Chris Robison – Sharks