Anderson, who started playing hockey around the age of three, said he enjoys watching Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Toronto's Auston Matthews in the shootout. The 9 year old said he often attempts to mimic their style, which he describes as "coming in with a lot of speed and using a quick release" to fool opposing goaltenders.
In this tournament, however, Anderson had to change his approach.
"It's basically just sweeping and swooping, going side to side," Anderson said, hair overflowing from his Panthers hat. "It's just curving with a zigzag line until I get an open spot by the goalie just moving his glove to the front.
"My shot is typically a little bit below the blocker because I don't want to go too high because on a couple shots I hit the crossbar and it went up into the glass. I figured it only worked a couple times and my low-blocker strategy worked various times, so I would do that for my goals."
With Anderson scoring the goals, Shield spent the evening supporting him in net, making big save after big save after big save throughout the night. When asked about his game, the 10 year old said he "developed it as I went" and adjusted to each shooter's tendencies.
"I do a technique that my goalie coach taught me," said Shield, a fifth grader from Parkland. "It's called the Y-Technique. You go out and then you come back and you glide and then you go which way they go. When they're coming down I've just got to keep calm and not go crazy."
In the final round, both Anderson and Shield kept their cool, defeating Pines Ice Arena's Luke Moforis and Harrison Hecker by a score of 2-1 in a best-of-three showdown to advance to the NHL-wide Mini 1-on-1 competition at the 2017 NHL All-Star Game in Tampa.
"My big dream, besides going into the NHL, was just to win a single game on this ice," Anderson said of his experience at the BB&T Center. "Now I feel like, since the victory in the shootout, it really brought me to it."
Thanks to all of our participating rinks and players!
Palm Beach Ice Works/Palm Beach Breakers
Goalie - Logan Winters
Shooter - Jack Mackey
Palm Beach Skate Zone/Palm Beach Hawks
Goalie - Jensen Carlstrom
Shooter - Kenny Carpenter
Glacier Ice & Snow Arena/Glacier Sharp Shooters
Goalie - Tyler Mundie
Shooter - Brady Vallee
Florida Panthers IceDen/Florida Jr. Panthers
Goalie - Zachary Shield
Shooter - William Anderson
Pines Ice Arena/Golden Wolves
Goalie - Luke Moforis
Shooter - Harrison Hecker
Kendall Ice Arena/Miami Toros
Goalie - Zackeal Eldridge
Shooter - Daniel Albis