Feb 28, 2016 | lgraham | 844 views
Warriors Eliminated
The Stratford Canadian Tire Major Bantam Warriors hopes of repeating as Alliance A league champions were dashed Sunday afternoon, with a 5-5 tie against the London Mustangs at the Allman arena.
Stratford entered the weekend down 5-3 in the 8 point series, and a 3-0 loss to London in the Forest City Saturday widened that series deficit further to 7-3.
The Warriors now needed to win three games in a row, and started Sunday quickly jumping out to a 3-1 lead by the end of the first period on two goals by Ethan Scrimgeour and one by Everett Hawkins. At the end of the second it was 3-2 Stratford, and Jared Searles marker made it 4-2 early in the third. Stratford could not hold onto the lead and went into the final three minutes trailing 5-4 until Carter Lewis knotted things up at 5 late in the game. Stratford needed the win, but could not score in the five minute overtime frame, dropping the series 8 points to 4.
The Warriors played with four defence all weekend and had gutsy efforts from Brendan Moorehead, Trent Zorgdrager, Kobe Robinson and Kolton Debus.
Stratford now moves on to the relegation round against the Kitchener Rangers.