Feb 26, 2013 | lgraham | 750 views
Detroit Motown Cup Finalists - Feb. 22-24, 2013
Highlighted by a Tournament opener at the Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings, the Stratford Nes-Tech Minor Peewee MD Warriors came away with Silver at the Motown Cup in Detroit Michigan this past weekend.
Stratford faced the Grosse Ile Michigan Islanders Friday night at the Joe Louis and came out with a close 2-1 victory. Stratford trailed 1-0 well into the third period, until Ryan Lott scored two late goals 17 seconds apart. Austin Taylor assisted on both goals while Josh Smith had one assist. Lott just missed the hat trick in the dying seconds, hitting the post on the empty net.
Saturday, Stratford faced a very strong Detroit Compuware squad and lost 5-2. Smith and Kolton Debus scored for the Warriors while Marcus Nicholson picked up an assist. Eric Van Nes and Josh Bossence played well on defence in the loss and Andrew Ivey had a strong game.
A win was needed to advance to the final Sunday and Stratford came up big with a convincing 4-0 win over the Chicago Jets. Debus had two goals with Ethan Reid and Jake Emerson rounding out the offensive attack. Nicholson had two assists while Reid, Kobe Robinson, Kiran Wotherspoon and Caelen Eveleigh had singles. Jarod Fleming was strong in net, earning the shutout. Brett Maguire and Mac Starkebaum were solid on defence.
With the win, Stratford earned another shot at Compuware, but the AAA Detroit team proved to be too talented and downed the Warriors 4-1 in the Gold medal game. Paul Bennett made several huge stops, including a penalty shot. Lott scored the lone Stratford goal, while Smith assisted. Stratford was in the game until the third period, but the speed of Compuware was overwhelming to the Warriors, who are seeded three levels below.