The Islanders Hockey Club had an impressive showing against some of the nations top midget major teams at the Chicago Fury Invitational. The U18 team reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to the Colorado Thunderbirds 2-1 in a thrilling overtime game. A depleted Islanders team put together a solid 'bend, but don’t break' effort against a high energy, hard-hitting Thunderbirds team. Graham Hunt had a brilliant effort in net to give his teammates a chance to pull off an upset win. The Thunderbirds struck first in the 2nd period, off a set offensive play that confused the defense and Hunt. The game remained back and forth throughout the 2nd and 3rd period. The Islanders made their push in the waning minutes and started to dominate play. With less than a minute remaining in the game a shot from Kyle Puzar at the point, found a stick in the chaos of bodies in front of the net, and beat the Thunderbirds goalie. The teams would need a 5-minute, four-on-four overtime to determine the winner. The Islanders would out-play and out-chance the Thunderbirds in overtime as they were reenergized from their late goal in regulation. With less than a minute left, an unfortunate bounce in the Islanders offensive zone, sent a Thunderbirds forward in on a breakaway, where he made a sensational move to beat Hunt.

To get to the quarterfinals the Islanders lost to the St. Louis Jr. Blues 5-1, beat Russell Stover 1-0, with Hunt picking up the shutout, and finally loosing to Chicago Fury 2-1.