Hockey is an incentive based sport. If you work hard, you often reap the benefits of that hard work.

On April 2, the San Jose Sharks experienced this first-hand, after being down 2-0 to the Anaheim Ducks, they dug their skates in for the extra grit that was needed and stormed back to a 4-2 victory.

On that same night, 10 lucky elementary students were also collecting their reward for hard work in the Sharks Foundation’s Reading Is Cool program presented by Comerica Bank.

Each year, the program hosts a Top Readers Night at HP Pavilion at San Jose. The night is a congratulatory prize following a year of solid work and effort in the program. Ten lucky students who demonstrated success in the program were selected to enjoy a pizza party in a penthouse suite during the Sharks home game. The students had the opportunity to meet S.J. Sharkie while they were recognized for their achievement during an on-ice ceremony during the game. Prior to the game, each child had the rare experience of welcoming every Sharks player as he skated on to the ice with a high-five. Besides the incredible experience, every kid went home with some great Sharks memorabilia and merchandise courtesy of the Sharks Foundation and Sharkie.

“To be recognized for something academic, for something that she spends hours each day doing and something that she loves was a big deal,” said the mother of one of the recognized readers. “When she finished giving "high-fives" to the Sharks players as they came onto the ice, she came back to the suite and told her Dad that this was a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience. The Reading is Cool program is reinforcing reading as a cool activity for kids and is motivating them to read more than they might otherwise.”

In a night that began and ended with high-fives being exchanged, both Sharks players in the dressing room and the lucky students up in the suite were finally being rewarded for hard work endured all season long.

Below is a list of the individual students who were recognized:

Name	Grade	School
Ginger K.	3rd	Brooktree School
Enrique R.	2nd/3rd	Jackson School
May Snow L.	5th/6th	Grimmer School
Amber K.	3rd	Tom Matsumoto
Jose Q.	1st	Cesar Chavez School
Jessica Z.	4th	Cherry Chase School
Arlin T.	K	Anthony Dorsa School
Grace L.	5th	Marshall Lane School
Edgar C.	2nd	Selma  Olinder School
Hina C.	4th	Louise Van Meter School

For more on the Reading Is Cool presented by Comerica Bank program, click here.