Stratford Royal Lepage Hiller Realty Minor Peewee Warriors rode into Hamilton needing one point to clinch the eight point series, playing at the Chedoke blue rink where the Huskies lost only two games all season and beat the home team 3-1 to win the Alliance Bristol championship.
The Huskies escaped a lethal powerplay late in the first period when the puck movement between Jared Lesouder, Mitch LaFay, Aly McLeod, Callum McMann and Josh Dowling was superb, creating multiple good scoring chances that were thwarted by the stellar Hamilton goalie. However, the Warriors finally struck first when a determined Raymond Horan took a pass from Adam Monteith high in the Huskie's zone and fired a shot on net, then drove the net and potted his own rebound with 12:26 remaining in the second frame. They continued to dominate play into the dying minutes of the period without a second goal when a defensive lapse lead to a dreaded late period goal against with 1:46 remaining.
However, the Warriors responded 31 seconds later when Noah Rusen-Steele dropped a pass to LaFay who fired a low drive producing a rebound that Kaden Eybergen found and deposited into the back of the net. The goal went right to the Warriors legs as they turned up the heat, positioning themselves on the right side of the battles and winning many important puck battles, making it hard for Hamilton to mount much of an answer. Then, with 10:06 remaining in the game McLeod beat her man off the boards inside her blue line, then found a seem through the neutral zone for Lesouder who roared in and fired the third Warriors goal over the goalie's glove hand.
Defensemen McMann, Dowling, Bryce Lee, Alex Cassone, Cohen Lesouder and Tyler Pogson stepped up huge as the minutes ticked away making it difficult for the Huskie forwards to generate chances while Mason Petrie and Adam Windsor continued their tenacious pursuit of the puck. Starting goalie, Carson Knott was steady as a rock but shone brightly with two minutes left in the game when he robbed a Huskie forward with his left pad, who pounded a rebound toward the open corner, putting an exclamation mark on the victory. Back up on the night Ryan Bell was credited with three victories in the series at home.
The win completed the Cinderella-like playdown run that had the 4th place Warriors win hard fought series against the fifth place London Bandits 7 points to 3, then the first place Waterloo Wolves 6 points to 4 winning the deciding game in Waterloo, in overtime, before beating the second place Huskies 9 points to 5. Overall, this Warriors team exemplified the saying, "if you think first class, you will be first class" competing together and winning and losing throughout the season graciously.