Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Wild Tigers Win Gold
PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove Wild Tigers competed Feb. 3 in the Special Olympics State Floor Hockey Tournament held at the Jones Center in Springdale, they defeated Mena, 11-1, and Hackett, 4-1.
Despite not having a substitute available due to a shoulder injury to freshman Stormie Lynch, the Wild Tigers won the tournament bringing home the gold medal. Players included: junior Richard Zenteno, junior Blake Rasco, junior Tyler Bowers, junior Nate Shelton, junior Jacob Hopson, senior Sarah Weese and freshman Stormie Lynch. The Wild Tigers were coached by Stephanie Mitchell, Darlene Roach and Ken Hopson.
“Floor hockey is probably our strongest event,” Mitchell said. “It’s a favorite among our athletes. It shows in how hard they work, how they practice and the amount of time they put into it. They’re very aggressive, but also team players, as well. They do very well at supporting each other. We utilize their strength as they play on the floor.”
Wild Tigers 11, Mena 1
The Wild Tigers won their first game of the tournament handily by a score of 11-1 over Mena. Leading 8-1, they put the game away with a flourish in the closing minutes of the third period. Shelton scored a goal to increase the lead to 9-1.
Zenteno twice won faceoffs, the second after a restart. Mena’s goalkeeper stopped a Wild Tiger shot after another face-off, but Zenteno captured the rebound and put in a goal improving the Wild Tigers’ advantage to 10-1.
Rasco took the next faceoff for the Wild Tigers setting up Griffin, who took the puck right to the goal and scored with a pointblank shot. The goal gave the Wild Tigers a 10-point lead of 11-1, which was the score they won by.
Wild Tigers 4, Hackett 1
Zenteno twice won faceoffs to start the game against Hackett. Goalkeeper Weese then stopped three shots-on-goal before the Wild Tigers got their offense untracked. At last, they got a shot on goal, then Griffin scored to put the Wild Tigers ahead, 1-0.
Hackett won the ensuing face-off, but Bowers came up big on defense, driving the puck out-of-play. Griffin then got a shot-on-goal for the Wild Tigers, but Hack- ett quickly brought the puck back to the Prairie Grove side. The Wild Tigers were fortunate that a goal made by Hackett was disallowed due to a blue line violation. Zenteno won the next faceoff and got a shot-on-goal, but the puck was knocked out-of-play behind the back net boundary. The first period ended with the Wild Tigers holding onto a 1-0 lead.
The Wild Tigers were aggressive on offense, scoring two goals in the second period. Griffin got a pair of shots on goal, scoring on his second attempt with a fancy behind-the-back shot to put the Wild Tigers ahead by two goals, at 2-0. Bowers kept up the attack with a shot-on-goal.
Zenteno manned a faceoff, leading to another Wild Tiger shot-on- goal. In yet another face- off, Zenteno prevailed at center court, getting the puck to Griffin, who went in to score the Wild Tigers’ third goal of the contest, giving them a 3- 0 lead. Weese came up with another save and the Wild Tigers avoided giving up a score despite a pair of a shots-on-goal by Hackett as the second period came to a close. The Wild Tigers maintained a 3-0 lead going into the third and final period.
As the third period got underway, Zenteno squared off in two face-offs. After the second face-off, Hackett got a shot-on-goal only to have Weese stop the shot and record another save for the Wild Tigers. Immediately after that, Hackett had a second goal taken away because a player had a stick inside the neutral zone.
Zenteno was called upon to handle two more face-offs. Bowers took the puck in for a shot-on-goal which missed, but Zenteno was in postition to follow and made good scoring a goal extending the Wild Tigers’ lead to 4-0.
Hackett won the ensuing face-off and with time winding down began to seek the nets in earnest. A long shot-on-goal by Hackett went out-of-bounds setting up another face- off with Zenteno battling for control of the puck. Shelton wound up with the puck and took a shot. He didn’t score and Hackett came back the other way with a shot-on-goal that missed, but a follow shot was good and Hackett was on the scoreboard. The goal was not enough to overcome the Wild Tigers’ lead and they won 4-1 as time expired in the third period.
Sophomore Billy Wise was also part of the team which qualified for the state tournament by winning all four games and bringing home the gold medal from the Regional tournament held in January.