North Ayrshire Penguins travelled to Solway Sharks for a U12 League match on Sunday and did the double over their South West rivals with an excellent 10-7 win. Penguins were caught cold when Lewis Chalmers and Aidan Nicol put the home side 2-0 ahead with only a couple of minutes on the clock but, roared on by a healthy travelling support, the visitors came storming back and by 10.59 man of the match Ivan Bjorkly had netted a quick-fire hat trick give his side a 3-2 lead.

Further goals at 11.29 from captain Jordan Buesa and 14.57 from Lewis Young opened up a 5-2 advantage, however Solway simply refused to lie down and strikes from Chalmers and Liam Stenton saw a terrific first period come to an end with the visitors holding a very slender 5-4 lead.

The second period continued at the same furious pace and at 21.08 Penguins moved 6-4 ahead with a long-range Darren Easton effort however, just five seconds later, Nicol scored his second of the game to pull Solway back to one goal down.

It was end-to-end stuff and, as both sides created chances galore, netminders Rebekkah Scott for Sharks and Brandon Rooney were forced to make some excellent saves.
It looked ominous for Penguins when they drew a two minute penalty, giving Sharks a power-play, but at 24.37 Bueasa netted a short-handed goal to put them 7-5 up and the three-goal lead was restored on 27 minutes when Calum McGill netted after a terrific passing move.

A dogged Solway side reduced the deficit to 8-6, Lewis Houston scrambling the puck home despite Penguins’ protests that Rooney had been impeded, but the Stevenston outfit raced straight up the ice from the face off and Bjorkly scored his fourth of the game to give his side a 9-6 lead.
Bjorkly then celebrated his call up to the Scotland U11 team by netting his fifth and Penguins’ tenth to put the game beyond reach on 35.39 and although Houston pulled one back for Sharks at 39.03 the two points were heading for Ayrshire

Penguins scorers and assists. I. Bjorkly (5+2); J. Buesa (2+2); D. Easton (1+2); C. McGill (1+1); L. Young (1+0); M. Miller (0+1).

MoM. Ivan Bjorkly.

North Ayrshire Ice Hockey Club’s growing stature has been recognised again with the selection of nine-year old Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom for the Scotland U11 team which competes in a tournament in Hull in May.

Ivan started his hockey career in Sweden in a learn-to-play set up with Tyreso Hockey Club outside Stockholm, and on his return to Scotland quickly settled in at NAIHC’s Learn to Play programme with The Ducks.

Once there Ivan soon developed under the watchful eye of Junior Development Coach Stevie Young and a squad of talented on-ice helpers such as James Wallace and his sister Ruth, and now he has joined the growing ranks of players at NAIHC who have been selected for Scottish or British squads.

After a period with the Ducks Ivan moved up to U10 level with The Sabres and was then given the chance to train up with the U12s Penguins squad, making his debut at that level at the age of just eight. He scored on his league debut game and went on to collect the Player of the Year and Top Goal Scorer awards last season and is now a regular for both sides.

Besides ice hockey, Ivan also squeezes in training with Glasgow Swimming Club and field hockey for Kelburne. He is the first to acknowledge and recognise the positive impact that all those involved in his coaching and development have had and is looking forward to going to Hull to represent both club and country, although he fully recognises that the opposition and the standard of play will be exceptionally high. But, as Ivan said: “Scotland U11s are a good team with great team spirit and we fear no-one!”

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Scotland U15’s have selected three players from North Ayr for tournaments in Paris and Hull.

Haydn Bain started Nov 2007, has played U12’s U14’s and is a first year U16 playing as a forward for the Predators .This is the first time Haydn has been selected for the Scotland squad. Haydn has gone from strength to strength over the years at North Ayr the Scotland call up just goes to show the effort he puts in at training and games.

Sam Clelland has been a member of North Ayr Ice Hockey Club since 2004 when he returned from living in America. His love of hockey began in Massachusetts where, aged 5, he began playing with Worcester Junior Ice Hockey Team. This is his fourth selection for the Scottish squad and he has been chosen consistently for the last three years to play with the Scotland Squad at the Inter Conference Tournament in Hull in May. Sam a first year 16 plays as a centre for the Predator and is one of the assistant captains this year and also the top scorer at present.

Daniel Abercrombie has played for North Ayr since age6. He was selected for Scotland U13s last year and made it to the final of the conference at Hull. Daniel plays as centre, is a 2nd year 14 is currently captain for the Stars (U14s) and their top goal scorer. He also assists on a Saturday afternoon with the rookies and under 10s showing them the basic skills they will need to be a ice hockey player.

North Ayrshires very own Ruth Wallace, aged 17 has been selected to represent Great Britain in the Under 18’s Women’s World Championship, taking place in Tromso in Norway 27^th December to 5^th January 2012. Ruth has worked hard all year to achieve this, travelling regularly to Coventry and other ice rinks mainly in England to attend training camps and trials.

All her hard work has finally paid of with her selection to the GB team. This is a great boost for girl’s ice hockey in the West of Scotland and to her club, North Ayrshire Junior Ice Hockey club who are based at Auchenharvie Ice Rink in Stevenson. Ruth who is a Level 1 coach also gives up much of her time coaching the younger players at her home rink.

We still have people who have ordered Calendars that need to pay and pick them up. Could you please speak to Lee Morrison to arrange collection and payment ASAP.

The club are holding a Quizoke Night Saturday the 17th of March at Woodwynd Community centre 7.30pm til late. Tickets are £5 each including buffet.
Maximum of 6 people in each team please.
Speak to Lee Morrison, Yvonne Benson or Marie Gibson for tickets.

North Ayrshire Under 14s, The Stars, have two friendly’s this week. On Saturday they are at home to Murrayfield, facing off at 6.15pm and then on Sunday they are playing the Scotland Under 13 team at Solway, with face off at 10.15am.

North Ayrshires under 16′s, The Predators beat Solway 5-1 at the weekend. Man of the match Gus Laing.