It would be fair to say these guys are ready for the season to begin.

Several local skaters were narrowly defeated in the championship final of the Pre-season AAA Blast Tournament in Toronto over the weekend as members of the Maitland Ice Sharks.

Coached by Kincardine’s Jeff Scott – who coached the Kincardine novices to a Regional Silver Stick championship last year – the Sharks had a 4-0 record in preliminary play. The team included goaltender Ryan Wheeler, defenceman Darcy Scott and snipers Jordan Beisel and Jordan Moulton.

They defeated the Lakeshore Guerillas, Durham Region, Markham and Vaughn in preliminary play, and beat another Markham team in the semi-final before being edged out 4-3 by the AAA Vipers.

 A few weeks ago, Scott and Wheeler won the Ice Sports King of Rings summer hockey tournament in Toronto. The pair skated as members of the Toronto Cyclones in the AAA-AAA Elite Division, and up a division in the major atom age group.