This past weekend the Shield picked up yet another 4 points to keep them on the top of the GMHL standings. A 1-0 forfeit win over the now defunct Ville-Marie Dragons gave the Shield their first win of the weekend on friday night. Saturday was a much more interesting story as the Shield headed to Beaverton to face off against the Brock Bucks. The Bucks kept it close in the early stages only trailing 2-1 at the end of the first period. In the second the Shield put 2 more up on the board while newly acquired goaltender Brian Valentine shut the door on the Bucks offense. The Shield would score one more in the third to give them a 5-1 victory.

Goal scorers for the Shield were Ricky Greenslade, Troy Storm, Sly Spencer, Dylan Cote, and Travis Saltz.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a differnce a couple of years makes. This past weekend the South Muskoka Shield clinched the North Divison title. Since this year is the first year for the divisional setup in the GMHL, that makes the Shield the first division winners in league history.

This may seem remarkable to some as in the Shield have yet to even win a playoff series in their 3 year existense. Finishing dead last in the GMHL's inagural season with an abismal record of 4-34-4 didn't give fans much of anything to cheer about and it's unfortunate that a lot of those fans from the first season have not returned. Last season saw the Shield's improve to a much more competitive level and as a result they were able to compete with the leagues best when they were on their game. Unfortunately some consistency issues and a second round playoff battle against the heavily favoured Rattlers ended the Shield's season.

Going into this year the Shield had a lot of things going for them. they were the only team to defeat the Bradford Rattlers in the Playoffs, and some would even argue that they did it on more than one occasion. A coaching change, some increased recruiting of local talent, and the drafting of a top 2 defenseman highlighted the changes over the off-season. An unexpected boost for the Shield came when it was discovered that 13 players from the previous year would be returning to help push the Shield to the top. Among these players were last years leading point getters in Dylan Sontag and Travis Saltz.

The year started off swimingly on the ice with the Shield winning it's first 5 regular season games and also 2 exhibition games against division rival Elliot Lake Bobcats. Matters off the ice were a bit tense to say the least which led to another coaching change after only 7 games. New head coach Dallyn Telford would take over from there. After losing his first game against Innisfil by a score of 7-4, the Shield caught fire and won an amazing 15 games in a row, setting a new team record in the process. Under head coach Telford the Shield are a very impressive 30-3-0 and also have victories against the Mercyhurst College ACHA Div I team and the Torpedo UST-Kamenogorsk U18 team from Kazakhstan.

If the Shield win all three of there remaining games, they will finish just 1 point shy of the league record for most points in a season of 78 set by the Bradford Rattlers in the GMHL's first year of play. That year was dominated by the Rattlers which goes to show how well the Shield have done thus far this season. The Shield would however break the record for most wins in a season at 38, surpassing the current record of 37 set by the same Bradford Rattlers set in 2006-07.

Stay tuned Shield fans, and buckle in for a long playoff haul this year. Your team has finally arrived.