Feb 19, 2015 | Colin Schmidt | 1942 views
Playoff Series Summary
The Stratford Minor Atom 'AA' Holloway Automotive Warriors played their first round of the Constellation Playoffs this past week against the Kitchener Jr. Rangers. Although the Warriors lost the 6-point series in a sweep, the games were hard-fought and closely contested.
In game one, the Warriors entered the host arena with a loud a raucous cheering section behind them. The team responded with what was arguably their best performance of the season, eventually falling 2-1 to the Jr. Rangers. The Warriors had several scoring chances throughout the game, including two point blank opportunities in the final minutes of the game but the Jr. Rangers goaltender was able to make key saves.
In game two, the Warriors trailed 2-0 just over a minute into the game on home ice. Although the final score was 5-1 in favour of the visitors, the Warriors battled hard and controlled the play for long stretches throughout the game. With the Warriors net empty for much of the final 3:30 of the game and the puck in the Jr. Rangers zone for much of that time, the Stratford shooters were unable to find the back of the net.
In the final game of the series, the Warriors and Jr. Rangers exchanged goals and headed into the 3rd period knotted at 3-3. For the Warriors, several nice passes and well placed shots finally solved the opposing goalie and allowed the team to control the play for large sections of the game. The Rangers took the lead in the third and were able to add a last minute goal to make the final 5-3, moving them onto the next round of the playoffs.