The line of Colten Brenzil, Nolan Miller and Harrison Robinet combined for 14 points as the Stratford Warriors Tier III West squad, sponsored by Hockey Training Above walked away with a decisive 9-1 victory over the Oakridge Aeros, December 19 at the Molson Arena.
Miller scored four and picked up two assists while Brenzil dented the twine once and collected three assists, Robinet scored twice and added an assist. Rylan DeBoeck, Owen Blain added singles. Owen Hunt, Cameron Parsons, Owen Bridges, Mark Martin, Casen de Graaf and Colston Kibedi each chipped in with an assist. Both goaltenders turned in their best game of the season. Noah Brosens made an incredible blocker save and Reed Bowles stunned the crowd with a huge glove save to preserve the 9-1 victory. The entire team was fierce on the back check and it resulted in numerous turnovers. Ryan Cassone, Cole Hishon, Owen Chambers and Taten Mikel had highlight reel opportunities offensively and also helped shut down the Aeros offence.
On Sunday, December the team travelled to London to face the West London Hawks 3 squad. Short two players, the team battled to a 0-0 tie in the first as Bowles shut the door with several great stops between the pipes. London held a 2-0 lead with 4:45 left in the second but Parsons sparked the Warriors' offence when he intercepted a pass at the point and cut back across the ice to and fired a low shot through traffic. Three minutes later, Ryan Cassone's shot was denied but deGraaf was there to snap it home and knot the contest 2-2.
After the Hawks took a 4-2 lead early in the third, Hunt found Kibedi inside the Warriors blueline and he cut left and then fired a pass up to Nolan Miller who raced up ice and slid a nifty backhand between the pads of the Hawks' netminder. Brosens made several huge saves to keep it close. The team went with the extra attacker for over two minutes but couldn't find the equalizer and lost 4-3. It was perhaps the best game of the year despite the loss.
The defence of Chambers, Bridges, Parsons, Hunt and Kibedi combined with the back checking of deGraaf, Cassone, Blain, DeBoeck, Martin, Hishon, Miller and Brenzil worked hard to limit the chances on net.
The team is back in action January 2 at 4:30 p.m. at the Molson Arena versus the London Bandits.
Written by Elaine Pennington