The Holloway Automotive Minor Atom Rep Warriors faced the Burlington Bulldogs in the division semi-final and took a 4 point lead in the 6 point series.
Game one took place on Saturday Feb 25 at home with the Warriors coming out in full force. Netminder Aidan Hill got the call to guard the mesh and he took care of business. At the seven minute mark in the first Carter Petrie put the Warriors on the board, assisted by Blair Stokes. Petrie closed out the period with his second, assisted by Nathan Siebert. The boys on the blue line including Rylan Hall, Cody Bach, Austin Musselman, Ryan Gansevles, Blake Hodgson and Aaron Green were rock solid throughout the game. Mid-way through the second period Petrie went top shelf for the hattrick, giving the Warriors a commanding 3-0 lead. Moments later Colin Schultz slid one in, assisted by Lukas Steele and Colin Slattery walked in during the third unassisted putting the Warriors up by 5. Petrie added his fourth of the game with eight minutes left to play and Slattery scored again, assisted by Petrie to close out the game 7-1.
On Sunday afternoon the Warriors headed down the 401 to Burlington looking to steal a win in Bulldog territory. The first period saw end to end action with Brenden Sippel fighting off a relentless Burlington squad. Finally, early in the second Slattery buried a feed from Petrie to put Stratford on the board. One minute later Steele doubled the score, unassisted. Gritty play along the boards from Dawson White and Gansevles kept the home team frustrated and allowed Petrie to grab Stratford’s third goal, assisted by Stokes. Action continued into the final period where Petrie scored, assisted by Grady Murphy and then Murphy nabbed one of his own allowing the Warriors to skate away with 5-1 win.
Next Action: The Warriors face the Bulldogs on home ice March 4 @ 2:30 at RBC.