The Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep Warriors played the Cambridge Hawks Saturday evening in Stratford. The two teams have been very close in the rankings and fans knew a good game was about to take place.
The Warriors started out strong with a solid few minutes spent in the Hawks end. Lucas Jacklin was in net for Stratford and made some early saves in the game. Danny Van Straaten, Owen Holloway and Kaden Brame were pushing hard offensively. The Hawks unfortunately snuck one in to start the scoring. Jared Gould was making a number of excellent passes. Wes Duiker was hustling to break up plays and minimize the Hawks scoring chances. With 4 minutes left in the period, Stratford got a penalty. Hawks scored on it to make it 2-0. Gould passed it down to Jake Heinbuch and then over to Avery Thurston who took a hard shot from the point but it was stopped.
The second period started off with the Warriors dominating the play again. Jacklin was making saves to keep it a 2 goal game. Heinbuch made some nice shots on net. Sam Jeffrey got slashed but the refs didn’t see it. He lost his glove at centre ice and skated off shaking his hurting hand. The Hawks were moving the puck out of our end and the play stopped dead when the puck hit Jeffrey’s glove and the whistle blew. Karma can be a pain! Holloway’s speed and determination was unbelievable in helping the defence while somehow maintaining a constant offensive pressure. Jeffrey had a hard slap shot on net from another Gould pass. The Hawks got a third goal on a rebound that went to an open man to make it 3-0 but the Warriors didn’t give up. Gould and Gibson fired off shots and Jeffrey had one off the crossbar. Jacklin was making great saves throughout the entire game. Holloway found holes around players like Swiss cheese to get a pass close to the net over to Brame. Brame shot it in to get them on the board! Thurston kept the puck in the Hawks end for more scoring chances. Gould was battling at the boards with no fear and the fans were loving it! An unusual shot block from a sitting position must have hurt him but he kept going.
The Warriors momentum continued in the third period. Jeffrey, from behind the net, got the puck to Gould who scored. Stratford was on a come back now only one goal behind, score 3-2. Thurston forced a wide shot on a 2 on 1. Duiker made a great play behind the net to get the puck over to Van Straaten. He passed it on to Brame who got it back over to Van Straaten then onto Holloway for another goal! Amazing tape to tape passes made this happen. The game was tied at 3-3. A few minutes later the Warriors took the lead on a Holloway pass to Van Straaten who went alone and shot it top shelf. Brame got another goal soon after with assists from his linemates Van Straaten and Holloway. The Hawks got another one in and the score was 5-4. Two time outs were called in the final 3 minutes and Stratford got on the power play. Gould tipped in the final goal of the game with an assist and shot from Heinbuch. Final score 6-4!
February 5th vs Sarnia Sting
Coming off the first set of back to back wins all year, the Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Rep Warrios were heading to Sarnia with a very clear objective – win this game to potentially move up 3 spots in the standings to get a more favourable playoff match up.
The Warriors had a very strong start and put pressure in the Sting’s end. Kiefer MacNeil in net made a save on a Sting breakaway. Owen Holloway continued his amazing play of the last few games to make a great pass to Danny Van Straaten who put it in! The Warriors were up 1-0. Cole Meadows, Hayden White-Roy and Aidan Benton were keeping the puck deep and forechecking well.
Could we hold the lead? Fans knew this was going to be an edge of their seat affair. Holloway had 2 quick scoring chances right at the start of the second period. MacNeil was showing his stuff with solid positional saves. Half way through the period the Warriors got a high sticking penalty and Sarnia got to test their power play. They put it in the net --- but after the whistle! There was much debate from the stands about the timing of this but it remained a no goal call. We were still up 1-0. Thomas Sheldon, Luke Zorgdrager and Van Straaten worked very hard on the penalty kill. MacNeil was having an amazing game and continuing his shut out. Kaden Brame got it to Sheldon who had a good hold at the blue line to get it over to Van Straaten who put it in for goal #2! Stratford was winning 2-0. Warriors got a hooking penalty but 10 seconds later Stratford drew a penalty too. The 4 on 4 hockey led to Sarnia’s first goal. The score was now 2-1 but we had 1 minute of power play left. Zorgdrager had a nice shot on net. The last minute of the period was 5 on 5 and ended with a score of 2-1 Stratford.
MacNeil started the 3rd period with a rubber band like stretching save to keep the lead. Luke Heisz was hustling well to stop Sting rushes. Sarnia got another power play with 10 minutes left in the game. Meadows showed his usual prowess on the penalty kill and the score remained 2-1. White-Roy got the puck on a breakaway and took a good shot on net. MacNeil continued his excellent goal keeping with more saves. We only were 5 on 5 for 2 minutes before we had a player in the box again. Fans were holding their breath and then Sarnia got a penalty as well. We had 5 minutes left in the game with almost 2 of it being played 4 on 4. The Warriors knew they needed a win, not a tie, to move up in the standings. Van Straaten fired off a shot trying for an insurance goal but it went wide. MacNeil was a wall keeping the puck out. Van Straaten and Zorgdrager got the puck to Holloway who took it down from our blue line and put it in! Warriors were winning 3-1 with only 2 minutes left in the biggest game of the year. A time out was called for both teams to strategize. Benton, White-Roy and Meadows were in deep for some time but then the Sting took it down and got a shot off our post. Jake Heinbuch passed to Jared Gould who got an empty netter to make it a 4-1 final score!
With 3 wins in a row, combined with how tight the standings were the Warriors were successful in moving up 3 spots in the standings, finishing regular season in 5th place. They are playing their best hockey of the year just in time for playoffs.