Sharks Open 24-25 MIHL Season With Banner Drop, Dominate Warhawks
Article by John Ott, Director of Media Relations for the Waterford Sharks
WATERFORD — The Waterford Sharks (1-0-0) opened their 2024-2025 Michigan Independence Hockey League campaign with their first banner drop in franchise history and a dominating 14-1 victory over the Detroit Warhawks (0-2-0) on Saturday night at Lakeland Ice Arena.
I’ll table the discussion and possible foreshadowing for another story (you may have already seen some of that in our features during the offseason) and focus on the here and now.
Wow.
I’ve never been part of an individual six-goal game in the broadcast booth and that is exactly what Andrew Palushaj brought to the table in the season opener.
Timestamp the 2:22 marker (I’ll put future mentions of these in brackets, as we didn’t have a period timer in the score clock during the video feed) and you’d see the assistant captain dance through the defense and score in close on Warhawks backup netminder Gabriel Horgan.
Trevor Pode (who was the league MVP for the former Gaylord Snow) has joined the Sharks(2:19). He made an unbelievable sauce pass from behind the net that setup Waterford captain Spencer Boman for a one-timer that was finished through the top-right corner of the net.
It’s not just the offensive skill, you see that Pode is a hockey player in all facets on the ice. I loved the backcheck effort, situational awareness and it was pretty neat to see how chemistry just clicked immediately with the team and in between a laser-focus of the Pode, Boman and Alex Gregorich combo line.
Justin McComas (1:17) collected a wonderful clearing effort from Hunter Kepple and Theo Gootee and it led to a shorthanded tuck against Warhawks starter Nate Austin on the breakaway.
If an odd-man rush (1:19:30) is your fancy… the Sharks collected the vulcanized rubber through the neutral zone and went to work. Defenseman Jake Pobur made the play to help spring Cole Helgemo with some unselfish passing which netted Palushaj his first hat trick with half the contest still to go!