The
Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Warriors Rep team faced the Leitrim Hawks in the
first game of the Oshawa Tournament this weekend.
These two teams have some history together. Almost one year ago they faced off in the gold medal game in Ottawa and the Warriors won in double over time.
Fans were nervous during the first minute of play when the Hawks were mostly in our end. Kiefer MacNeil in net made a great sliding save on his knees and then Owen Holloway finally got it out. Fans breathed a sigh of relief that the team’s “60 second” curse was lifted – last tournament a goal was scored against them every game in the first minute. The Hawks had some fancy stick handling skills and kept getting it back into our end. MacNeil was looking hot with multiple saves. Halfway through the period the Hawks shot a hard one from the slot and the rebound got snuck in the corner. Warriors were down 1-0. Luke Heisz was making some nice shot blocks in our end. The Hawks continued the impressive moves and moved the puck up to the net, deaked MacNeil to one side and slid it in. MacNeil made a few more saves to keep the score 2-0. Cole Meadows brought it down to the Hawks end with a minute left to make a good scoring chance on a shot by Aiden Benton.
The Warriors came to the second period with more confidence. Kaden Brame, Benton and Hayden White-Roy put heavy pressure on. They took a lot of good shots and kept pushing for the rebounds. The next 3 up – Meadows, Jared Gould and Sam Jeffrey did the same thing but this goalie kept shutting them down. The Hawks got another puck in the net and the Warriors were down by 3 goals. The team seemed disheartened and another minute was spent mostly in Warriors territory. Jeffrey got hit in the wrist and the Hawks got the first penalty of the game. Momentum reversed and Stratford poured it on! Avery Thurston and Meadows had some hard shots on net. A 4 minute penalty was called on the Warriors and MacNeil really kept the game in check with multiple saves. Luke Zorgdrager and Heisz were blocking more shots and we got 4 on 4 play when the Hawks got another penalty. Gould got a nice shot that the goalie flopped down on.
Thurston started the 3rd period by scooping out a rolling puck from the crease. Another close one, when 3 Hawks were on a corner of the net and one took a big wind up but thankfully missed the puck and the defense raced in to get it away. The Warriors got on another power play and Holloway and Meadows were working furiously to score. The Hawks killed it but then got short handed again soon after. We had 5 on 4 that became 4 on 4 when we got a tripping penalty. Jake Heinbuch sent the puck down the ice and Holloway chased it. He took it around behind the net then from the corner roofed it for a goal! The score was 3-1 and now the Warriors were short handed for 1:16 more. Gould made slick moves with the puck and got right in front to shoot it in! In one minute of play the Warriors were now only a goal away from tieing it up. The penalty was killed but we got another one a few minutes later. Zorgdrager and Heisz were solid defensively to prevent another scoring chance. Gould was backchecking well and MacNeil had more shots fired on
him and stopped them all. Thurston dove to the side of the net to save another possible goal. White-Roy, Jeffrey, Zorgdrager, Heisz and Heinbuch all took last minute shots to try to tie it up. A penalty was called with 3.3 seconds left in the game and the Warriors lost 3-2.
Game #2 vs the Peterborough Petes
Fans, players and coaches were very excited for this game – it marked the first time in 2 months that the entire team was on the ice together for a game. We knew something special was going to happen!
Stratford started the second game of the Oshawa Hockeyfest tournament aggressively. The Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Warriors Rep scored only 2 minutes into the game. Danny Van Straaten passed it over to Kaden Brame who put it home! The Petes got it right back though 10 seconds later with a quick breakaway. Lucas Jacklin in net faced another volley of shots and didn’t let anything else by. Halfway through the period we got a tripping penalty and the Petes power play scored a goal between Jacklin’s pads. Warriors were down 2-1. The last few minutes of the period the puck was in the opposition end with Thomas Sheldon keeping it in.
The second period started with the puck stuck in the Warriors end for a few minutes. Van Straaten got tripped and we had our first power play. Cole Meadows wasted no time taking a pass from Van Straaten and shooting it at the net, then getting it again and the puck slow motioned in behind the goalie. Score 2-2 all tied up. The Petes got a player on a wide open breakaway and he took a shot on Jacklin who made a monster save! A minute later another breakaway stopped by Jacklin. Van Straaten got the puck from Luke Zorgdrager and Brame, took it down and sunk it in the top upper corner to make it 3-2 Warriors. Colton Gibson helped take down a 2 on 1 and Jacklin made a fantastic splits save then caught the rebound in his mitt. The Petes got on a power play again and Stratford shut them down – hardly a shot was taken on net. Gibson and Sheldon both were solid at their positions during the penalty kill. Wes Duiker was skating fast and breaking up plays at the end of the period.
The Warriors got a lucky break at the start of the 3rd when a puck looked like it hit mesh and bounced right back out. Brame and Meadows continued to rack up the points by sending another puck Van Straaten’s way who scored again! Every time a goal got scored the Petes doubled their efforts – the next 2 minutes were spent in the Warriors end until Gibson finally got it out for us. Duiker kept the quick feet going on defense. Van Straaten scored again to make it 5-2. Fans tried to send their toques onto the ice but the very large net stopped us. A minute later fans were confused when they saw #30 on the scoreboard for a minor. We couldn’t see the play from our end but it was legit and we went on the power play because of a goalie penalty. Sheldon kept that puck in like his life depended on it. There was a scramble at the net with Van Straaten getting his 4th goal of the night! With only a minute left Van Straaten couldn’t challenge Daryl Sitler’s record of 10 points in a game but all we can say is WOW! The whole team left the ice ecstatic with their spectacular win. Final score 6-2 Stratford.
Game #3 vs Oshawa Generals
The Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep team faced the home town Oshawa Generals in the third game of the Hockeyfest Tournament. If they won this game they were likely moving on to play Sunday in the semifinals.
The teams seemed fairly evenly matched with a lot of back and forth play to start the game. The first shot on net was a surprise one that deflected off one of our players, bounced over and hit the cross bar then goaltender Keifer MacNeil smothered it. Thomas Sheldon had a rush up the ice and got all the way into the slot for a nice shot. Cole Meadows was skating hard and helping the defence with his backchecking. The Warriors got a penalty and Colton Gibson and Sam Jeffrey repeatedly sent pucks flying into the Generals end. Kaden Brame and Danny Van Straaten were making some awesome shots but nothing was moving past this goalie, hardly any rebounds were available to poke at. The first period ended scoreless.
Colton Gibson had great movement on the puck to start the second. Van Straaten send a tape to tape pass to Brame who took a hard shot that the goalie caught in his glove. Another beautiful pass by Van Stratten to Meadows who took a shot but this goalie was standing on his head and stopping everything. Brame got a breakaway and took a shot then hustled it back to help stop a General rush. Sheldon took 3 shots over the next few minutes trying so hard to get the puck in. Gibson showed good wheels as he caught up to a racing General on a breakaway. He battled fiercely for position which resulted in a penalty but no goal was scored. The penalty was killed by the Warriors.
We started the third with a clean sheet. The Warriors got on their first power play early on. The Generals killed it well. A shot came up to MacNeil’s helmet and he stood fearlessly as it bounced up and over the net. Gibson made another amazing hustle off the bench on a defense change and forced a wide shot on a breakaway. MacNeil was doing his best impersonation of Gumbi and shots were flying off his foot, his shin and his head. With 8 minutes left, the Generals finally wore MacNeil down and on a 2 on 1 scored. The score was 1-0 Generals. Coincidental minors were called shortly after and we continued 5 on 5 play with 2 boys in the box. Van Straaten took it down all the way and was robbed in his bid to tie it up. MacNeil, not to be outshadowed, stopped a shot from a breakaway and then sitting on the ice made himself as big as he could to funnel the puck and smother it. This was a true goaltender battle and both goalies were amazing. The last minute of play had 2 penalties called and hard pressure on the Generals with MacNeil pulled. The final score was 2-0 on an empty netter.