Ottawa Winter Classic
The Perth Auto Dismantlers Major Atoms travelled to
Ottawa to compete in the Nation's Capital Winter Classic tournament.
The Warriors faced the home town favorite Ottawa Sting in Game 1. An excited Warrior squad showed no signs of weariness as they dominated play with aggressive fore checking and slick passing. The Stratford team jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period of play. Colton Gibson notched his 1st goal of the campaign, firing a laser beam from the blue line. The Warriors went on to win by a score of 5-1. Jonas Schmidt efforts were recognized as he received the game MVP honors.
In their second contest of the tournament, the Warriors easily defeated a much lower ranked Scarborough Ice Raiders team 14-0. Jonas Schmidt led the way for the red, white and blue knotting 6 goals in the contest. Sam Jeffrey was the set up man for several goals earning him game MVP accolades.
Completing the round robin play portion of the draw, the Warriors challenged The Barracudas de Deux Rives. After a scoreless 1st period, Stratford opened the floodgates and cruised to a 6-0 victory. Owen Holloway earned player of the game status, compliments of his tenacious play and highlight reel penalty shot goal.
The semi-final matchup vs. the Metcalfe Jets started with end to end action. The Jets opened the scoring and added another to lead the contest 2-0 after one period of play. Stratford regrouped and roared back with 7 unanswered goals to earn a berth in the tourney final. Luke Zordragger earned player of the match honors for his steady play on defense.
Up front, the Warriors pin point passing ensured beautiful goals by Cole Meadows, Liam Hill, Kaden Brame, Ethan Martin, Jake Heinbuch, and Jared Gould. The Warrior defense put up a brick wall limiting scoring chances all weekend. Leading the way was Avery Thurston, Luke Heisz, Logan Lott and Ryan Middegaal. Goalies Parsons and Campbell allowed a combined 3 goals against in 4 games, tops in the tournament, leading up to the final.
In the final match of the 16 team draw, the undefeated Leitrim Hawks hemmed in the Warriors early in the contest and built up a 3-0 lead. However, the never say die Warriors responded, chipping away at the 3 goal lead, eventually tying things up at 3 with only 4 minutes to go in regulation play. 4 on 4 overtime was needed to determine the tournament champions. Ethan Martin was the hero as he sent the Warrior Nation fans into a frenzy with his overtime tally with 41 seconds left in the first overtime period. The Warriors went undefeated in their 5 games of the tournament. Congratulations Warriors on a job well done!