The goaltenders stole the show on January 30 as the Stratford Warriors Novice Tier III West squad, sponsored by Hockey Training Above, travelled to Sarnia to face the junior Sting in a battle for third.
The team knew it was going to be a tough battle playing without five skaters but they weren't about to throw in the towel.
Nolan Miller opened the scoring midway through the first when he picked up the pass from Harrison Robinet and as he was falling down to his knees, fired a beautiful shot high glove side. Unfortunately two costly turnovers gave Sarnia a 2-1 lead by the end of the first period.
Early in the second Sarnia was called for a body check on Casen deGraaf. Owen Blain won the ensuing face off and Ryan Cassone picked up the puck spun and fired a low seeing eye shot to knot it 2-2.
A minute later Brosens bailed out his mates with a sensational poke check. He made several game saving stops to keep the team in the game before turning it over to Reed Bowles late in the second. Bowles was equally impressive flashing the leather a couple times and making good solid saves especially in a very busy third period. Warriors played ferocious defence especially in the second period but by the third the boys were feeling the effects of playing with a short bench. Sarnia took the lead in the third period while shorthanded. The Warriors fought hard for the equalizer but were unable to convert their chances and lost 3-2 dropping the Warriors into fourth in the regular season. Sarnia dominated the shot clock 22-8.
The forwards Miller, deGraaf, Robinet, Owen Blain, Cole Hishon and Ryan Cassone as well as the defence of Owen Hunt, Colston Kibedi, Cameron Parsons and Taten Mikel secured a huge psychological victory heading into playoff action starting February 6 when they travel back to Sarnia. On February 7 the Warriors host West London at the Allman Arena at 2:30 p.m.
Submitted by Elaine Pennington