The Stratford Hockey Training Above Novice Tier 3's fought hard in game three of play downs, losing a heartbreaker in overtime.
Game #3 took place on Sunday March 22 at the Allman. Both teams were looking for a win as a spot at provincials was on the line. Goaltender Aidan Hill was in charge in the net and once again played an outstanding game! The Warriors struck first three minutes into the game with a goal from Colin Schultz, assisted by Nolan Miller. Then, with two minutes remaining in the first period the Warriors nabbed another one scored by Carter Petrie, assisted by Sam Binns and Cody Bach. The second period brought lots of end to end action with Aidan Hill continually shutting down their offense. Relentless attacks from Colin Slattery, Grady Murphy, Nathan Siebert and Dawson White kept the Sarnia defense on their toes. Stratford's defensive core of Austin Musselman, Rylan Hall, Liam Ollson , Aaron Green and Bach continually took away scoring chances for Sarnia to hold them off the board in the second. With less than a minute left in the second period, Petrie scored his second of the game on a shorthanded goal to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, Sarnia came out tough and strong in the third and found the back of the net three times to tie the game, and then with four minutes remaining they took the lead 4-3. With Stratford looking to force the overtime, Colin Schultz nailed a shot with one minute left to tie the game, assisted by Murphy! Once again, overtime was full of action in a game that could have gone either way but in the end Sarnia found the back of the net first, and won the game 5-4.
The boys are commended on an awesome season! They finished the year with a record of 37-16-7, including two gold medals and a silver medal in tournament play. Regular season play resulted in a third place finish, and second place in playoffs. They fought hard in every game and were the only team in the league to beat every team at least once!
The coaching staff of Scott Petrie (Head coach,) Chris Musselman (assistant), Tim Schultz (assistant) and Tony Convay (trainer) would like to congratulate the boys on a tremendous season! Also a huge shout out to all the parents and fans who supported the team throughout the season!