Although they came away without a victory in 3 games at the
Motown Cup this past weekend, the Dunny’s Source for Sports Atom MD Warriors
played some of their best hockey of the season. Thievery from the opposing goaltenders was all that kept the Warriors from making a deep run in the tournament.
Facing the Lambeth Lancers in the tournament opener, the Warriors dominated play for three periods and outshot their opponent 44-7, but were met by one of the finest Atom goaltending performances in recent memory as they lost 3-2. The Lambeth netminder made countless highlight reel saves on the Warriors throughout the first period as Dunny’s kept the play in the Lancers zone for much of the frame. Lambeth captilized on a powerplay midway through the first and went up 2-0 shortly thereafter on a botched breakout by the Warriors. In the second period, Stratford continued to dominate play and generate quality scoring chances but could not solve the Lambeth goalie. The third started much the same way, with the Warriors putting pressure on the Lancers defense and generating opportunities. Finally, on a goal mouth scramble with 8 minutes remaining, James Koch banged home a loose puck to pull the Warriors within one. Three shifts later, the line of Koch, Jake Bossence & Nate Cardoso were at it again with Bossence potting a rebound to tie the game. Unfortunately, on the same shift, some loose play by the Warriors in their own end resulted in several missed chances to clear the zone and Lambeth eventually capitalized on a shot from the point to retake the lead 3-2 with only 3 minutes remaining. The Warriors battled hard to the end and created more quality chances with their goalie out, but the Lancers tender was up to the challenge and stoned the Warriors bid for the tie. Cameron Hahn & Maddox Keller played strong games on defense while Ethan Boersma & Liam Flanagan created many chances up front.
Up next for the Warriors was division rival London Bandits Orange. The Warriors got out to an early lead with a bullet shot Nick McCabe on a nice feed from Boersma. But once again, the tribe was met with a hot goalie and London held the Warriors offense in check and eventually tied the game 1-1 before the end of the first. The Bandits would add another goal in the second to pull ahead and despite the Warriors best efforts they could not solve the Bandits netminder. Matt Trachsel was stoned a breakaway midway through the third period and that seemed to spark the Bandits as they added two insurance goals late to ice the game and hand Dunny’s a 4-1 loss. Corey Van Nes and Jackson Nickel were strong on the forecheck throughout the contest while Sam Gerber and Mitchell Leitch did a great job keeping the puck in the Bandits zone. Brock Barclay made several key saves for the tribe.
The Warriors final game was played at Joe Louis Arena against a spirited Downsview Beavers team. As was the theme for the weekend, the Warriors outplayed their opponent but were met with excellent goaltending. From the opening draw, the Warriors took it to the Beavers and generated several quality scoring chances early. The Dunny’s attack remained relentless for most of the period, but a missed assignment in their own end midway through the period allowed Downsview to jump out to a 1-0 lead. That was all the Beavers would need, as despite playing much of the second and third periods in the Beavers end, the Warriors could not solve the Downsview goaltender. A late barrage with their goaltender pulled went unsuccessful and the Beavers would add an empty netter with 30 seconds left to send the Warriors packing 2-0. Owen Akey played a strong game on the wing, while Trachsel and Ethan Skinner generated scoring chances from the backend. Colin Wickenheiser kept the Warriors in the game with a fabulous performance between the pipes.
All in all, a very encouraging weekend for the Warriors with playoffs on the horizon this week.