The Stratford Hiller Realty Minor PeeWees opened their semi-final series over the weekend against Waterloo, with each team picking up home wins.
Saturday afternoon in Waterloo was game 1; it was a spirited contest with plenty of penalties both ways. Waterloo opened the scoring on a powerplay, but Stratford stormed back, building momentum in the mid stages of the second period. With the game tied late Stratford once again got themselves into penalty trouble and surrendered the deciding goal on a 5 on 3 penalty kill. Mitch Watt was exceptional in goal giving Stratford a chance in the game, but the Warriors were not able to tie the game up late in the third with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker and the home team took the opening game 3-2. Goal scorers for Stratford were Jakob Partridge and Michael Messerschmidt with assists going to Sean Chisholm and Zach Otto.
Game 2 of the series was played in Stratford on Sunday. It was a slow start for the Warriors who relied on the strong play from Tyler Parr early in the game to allow them to get into this one. Again it was an aggressive play-off style hockey game with penalties going to each side in the first two periods, neither team able to capitalize on plenty of opportunities. Tied 0-0 going into the final frame, Stratford finally broke through with just over two minutes to go when Sean Chisholm fired a low shot by the Waterloo netminder. In the last minute of play, strong board play in the Warriors zone led to a break for Haydn Shantz who made no mistake burying an insurance goal into an empty Waterloo net. Stratford held on for the 2-0 victory to even the series at 1. The next game will be played Thursday evening in Waterloo.