After a long holiday break off the ice, the Minor Peewee Hiller Realty Stratford Warriors Rep team were set to face the undefeated Kitchener Jr Rangers Blue team. It was a stormy night and multiple roads ended up closed after the game. Stratford fans didn’t let that deter them and there was a strong fan turnout for the match.
Lucas Jacklin was in net for Stratford and looked sharp right from puck drop. Jared Gould was making amazing tape to tape passes to Aidan Benton for some nice scoring chances. With two minutes left in the period Danny Van Straaten brought the puck in from the red line and shot top left corner to get the first goal of the game! Hayden White-Roy and Avery Thurston got assists on the goal.
Thomas Sheldon had a good shot to start the second period but it got blocked. He then got a pass over to Gould who shot hard and it bounced up off the goalie and Sam Jeffrey put it in. Warriors were up 2-0. Colton Gibson and Wes Duiker were a fierce defensive duo with Jacklin backing them up. A Warriors penalty was called and Duiker and Gibson worked hard to kill it successfully. Thurston stopped a 3 on 1 and took some hard shots from the point. White-Roy wound up and sent one flying that was blocked by a Rangers helmet. Gould made another beautiful pass over to Jeffrey who shot it on net. Owen Holloway scored on a great forecheck to cause the goalie to turn it over. Warriors were winning 3-0. Jeffrey then got another goal with passes from Gould and Thurston. A Rangers time out was called to review strategy in the 4-0 game. The Rangers came out hard and Jacklin was forced into four quick saves.
The third period quickly saw Van Straaten get another goal to make it 5-0 and an assist to Duiker. Jacklin continued the shut out with Gibson working hard on defense. The Rangers finally beat Jacklin with 9 minutes left in the game to make it 5-1. One parent had uttered the words “isn’t Kitchener undefeated” only about 30 seconds before this goal – there were many glares headed her way for the next 9 minutes from the surrounding superstitious parents. The Rangers scored 2 more times to make it 5-3. They never gave up and the last save of the game came with 10 seconds left. Jacklin had a terrific outing and congratulations to the team for a great game!
January 7th vs Sarnia Sting
The Stratford Warriors Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep team played the Sarnia Sting on Saturday evening.
The action started early with Kaden Brame firing off a shot only 12 seconds into the game. Sarnia then rushed it down to shoot on Kiefer MacNeil but he stopped it. The Warriors were down 2 defensemen so the 4 remaining had their work cut out for them against an aggressive Sarnia team. Jared Gould continued the excellent passing work from last game and fed Sam Jeffrey multiple passes. Jeffrey was shooting but nothing was going past the Sting goalie. Luke Heisz made a timely scoop of a rebound that looked like it was going to sneak by MacNeil. Gould made a last second shot to end the period.
The second period saw a hard shot bounce right off MacNeil’s helmet and stayed out. The Warriors got a penalty. MacNeil made some impressive saves with a complete rolling dive save and also one of the end of his stick. The Warriors survived the penalty but then got another one soon after. Luke Zorgdrager and Heisz were hustling and moving the puck around well to kill the second penalty. With one second left in the penalty Sarnia had a crowd in the crease and someone got it in. Stratford then went on a power play but unfortunately Sarnia scored again short handed. Cole Meadows got a breakaway and had a great shot at the end of the period but it remained 2-0.
Zorgdrager had multiple shots in the 3rd period from the point to try to get on the board. Warriors got on the power play and then had a 5-3 for 1:20 due to a nasty hit on one of our forwards. Avery Thurston sent a nice shot from the point and it almost got deflected in. Both penalties were killed by Sarnia and we were back to 5-5 hockey. Jake Heinbuch was moving the puck and making good passes to his linemates. Stratford got another penalty and Brame took to the offensive for some good scoring chances. Colton Gibson kept the puck in and made a shot on net. Meadows persisted with shots right up until the end of the game. MacNeil went over to the bench and Heisz saved another puck rolling into the net. With 35.2 seconds left in the game, Owen Holloway scored with the assist to Brame! Warriors called a time out to strategize how to tie it up. The Warriors won the face off and MacNeil was back to the bench. A whistle blew with 6.1 seconds left and Sarnia took a time out. The game ended 2-1 for Sarnia.
January 8th vs Burlington Bulldogs Red
The Burlington Bulldogs Red team came out hard in the first minute of play against the Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep Stratford Warriors on Sunday afternoon. The score was 1-0 early on for the Bulldogs and the Warriors had to play catch up. We got a penalty for holding which Cole Meadows and Danny Van Straaten worked hard to kill. Lucas Jacklin was in net for the Warriors. Thomas Sheldon sent a pass in front of the net to Meadows who almost tapped it in.
The play was back and forth between the teams for the first half of the second period without many scoring chances for either side. Van Straaten made a great shot that the Bulldogs goalie saved. But Van Straaten didn’t give up and fired another one off a Hayden White-Roy rebound to get us a goal! Jacklin made a big save to keep it a 1-1 tie. At the end of the period Burlington got a pair of goals to make it 3-1.
The third period saw Burlington continuing to put pressure on Stratford. They got another goal and with 10 minutes left in the game the score was 4-1. Luke Zorgdrager was strong on defense through the game. Luke Heisz broke up a 2 on 1 with a good hustle. There was a flurry of Warriors shots at the end of the game but the Bulldogs goalie stayed solid and nothing slipped by. The game ended 4-1.