Mar 24, 2016 | Mike Knechtel | 1937 views
Bristol Champions
After eliminating St. Thomas and Brantford, The Stratford Holloway Minor Atoms faced off against the Waterloo Wolves in the Bristol finals last week-end.
Stratford travelled to Waterloo on Friday night and found themselves down 1-0 in the first period until the final second when Andrew Leitch tied it 1-1 just before the buzzer. Beckham McLeod assisted on the goal. The team trailed Waterloo 2-1 late in the third when Nathan Gibb scored to tie it up. McLeod and Ethan Plotnik assisted. This sent the game into a 5 minute sudden death overtime. It was looking like the game might end in a tie until Quinn Appel tipped a shot from Mark Pyzowski with 35 seconds remaining. Stratford won the first game 3-2.
Game two was Saturday in Stratford. The team got off to a quick start and were up 2-0 after the first period. Ryan Haines opened the scoring assisted by Brett Knechtel and Appel. A few minutes later, Knechtel scored assisted by Haines and Appel. Waterloo fought back and scored two goals in the second and the game was tied heading into the third period. Haines scored with 1:46 left in the third to put the Warriors ahead for good. Nathaniel Smith assisted on the goal. Stratford won game two by a score of 3-2.
There was no rest for either teams as Stratford then returned to Waterloo on Sunday. The game went back and forth and remained scoreless into the third period. Stratford took advantage of a late power play as Haines scored assisted by Kaleb Martin. The team hung on for a 1-0 victory, winning the series! Koen Gerber recored his first shut out of the year.