Overtime was magical for the Evoke
Marketing Tier I Novice Warriors at the Hespeler Olympics tournament December
27-29.
Scoreless after regulation time, it didn't take long to determine the winner in the final. Seconds into the extra frame, Owen Martin took a pass from Ethan Schmidt and stepped over the blueline and rifled a shot past the New Hamburg Huskies netminder to give the Warriors a 1-0 victory. Mac Munro earned the shutout making several great saves.
In first place after the round robin, the Warriors advanced to the finals with a decisive 5-1 win over the fourth place Cambridge Hawks Black in the semifinals. Jason Adair led the way with two goals and an assist while Caleb Hurley had a goal and two assists. Ethan Bridges and Luke Hishon added singles while Parker Glitz, Ryder Duchesne picked up assists. The Warriors dominated jumping out to a 4-0 lead before the Hawks penetrated the tough defense and went top shelf.
In the round robin, the Warriors opened versus the Waterloo Wolves Gold December 27 and walked away with a decisive 4-0 win. Ryan Watling opened the scoring rifling a point shot top corner after the setup from Hurley. Glitz fed Adair to make it 2-0. Munro flashed the glove early in the second to preserve the lead before Bridges and Martin both added a goal and an assist to round out the scoring. Munro made several great saves and controlled the rebounds to earn the shutout.
In game two, the Warriors faced Cambridge Hawks Black and Malaika Kibedi was busy early unfortunately the Hawks found the blocker side late in the first to open the scoring. Hurley got the Warriors on the board moments later with an unassisted tally. The teams exchanged chances the rest of the way with the Warriors taking the upper hand on goals by Cohen Bowles, Adair and Hurley. Assists to Bridges, Martin, Duchesne, Hurley and Adair. Kibedi made several great stops to give the Warriors the win. The 4-3 victory meant the next game versus New Hamburg was going to be a battle for first place.
Game three Friday morning saw the Warriors open the scoring against New Hamburg when Nate Meadows and Martin combined to set up Bowles midway through the first. Late in the second Martin and Hurley fed Bridges who found the top corner. The Huskies cut the lead midway through the third and then tied it up a minute later. Schmidt intercepted a pass in the neutral zone late in the frame and raced in on a breakaway to find the back of the net for a 3-2 victory. Munro came up big when he was needed for the win.
In game four the Warriors faced the Hespeler Olympics. Bridges opened the scoring 34 seconds in with a beauty into the top shelf. Kibedi came up with some crucial stops to preserve the lead and then Adair made it 2-0 with 35 seconds to go in the frame after a perfect feed from Glitz. In the third period, Bridges fed Martin and he sniped a beauty to make it 3-0. Tic-tac-toe passing between Colton Campbell and Schmidt found Alex Erb alone out front and he ripped one home for a four goal lead. Bridges rounded out the scoring for a 5-0 win and giving the Warriors a record of four wins and no losses.
The Warriors return to league competition January 13 when they host Sarnia at 1 p.m. at the Allman.