Razorbacks are known to be aggressive, while rats tend to be a little more sleek and graceful.
But what happens if they meet on ice?

So the abovementioned rang true; the Rats were sleek and graceful against the Nelspruit Razorbacks over this past weekend’s three-day tournament.

They kept their composure and scored well-worked goal after goal. Their experience and finesse were clearly visible on the ice, and took advantage of the home team’s inexperience, who tended to be somewhat overeager – understandably so against a very physical team.

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This resulted in, by far, the most action-packed and physical ice hockey games the Lowveld has ever seen. Needless to say, the arena was fully packed with hungry, cheering spectators.

Though the Rats dominated the Lowveld in all of the games, it was more of a learning experience for the home team, who only recently joined the newly established Razorbacks.

Training sessions were also held over the weekend to share this wealth of knowledge with the local players.

A total of five senior games were played, by members ranging from 14 to 60, while players from six to 14 took part in the junior tournament – some of whom played their first match ever.

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The Razorbacks put up a valiant effort, all walking away from matches with new skills and smiles on their faces, knowing they had the support of the local community regardless of scores.

Senior game goals over the weekend were scored by Alvin Steyn, Sihle Masuku, Pieter van Rooyen, Fanie Greyvenstein, Winand Cronje, Nathan Laufs, Giovanni van Kraayenburg, Jean Steyn, Armand Labuscagne and Ulrich van der Westhuizen – the latter scoring a hat trick in one of the matches.

The Rats took home the trophy, but the real winner over the weekend was South African Ice Hockey, with the Nelspruit Razorbacks being the youngest team.