The Evoke Marketing Tier I Warriors picked up two crucial points with a 4-3 victory over the North London Nationals, January 29 and are now tied with Sarnia.
Despite getting some chances and some great stops by Noah Brosens, the Warriors fell behind 2-0 after the first period but were tied 6-6 on the shot clock. Just over three minutes into the second Colston Kibedi made a smart pinch along the boards and rifled a bomb on net cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Then the Warriors took advantage of a power play late in the second and after the line of Owen Blain, Taten Mikel and Ryan Cassone combined on a beautiful passing display the puck came to Owen Chambers at the point and he ripped a shot high over the glove to deadlock it 2-2 after two periods.
Fifteen seconds into the third, Kibedi carried up ice then fed Rylan DeBoeck on the right side and he raced up ice before feeding Cole Hishon on the far side. He drove hard to the net, fired then buried the rebound for a 3-2 lead.
Four minutes later the Warriors took advantage of a power play as Owen Hunt found Hishon in the neutral zone. He was held up so Colten Brenzil picked it up and raced up ice on a two on one break. He made a beautiful pass across to DeBoeck who fired far side to make it 4-2 with 10:41 to go.
Unfortunately, with one minute and two seconds left, a turnover in the neutal zone, a bad line change resulted in a breakaway compounded when the first defender fell down and the second defenceman couldn't get around to catch the Nationals player leaving Brosens on his own. Unfortunately the Nationals cut the lead to 4-3 with 1:02 remaining. Fortunately the Warriors held on for a huge morale booster.
The two points combined with the single point earned after a 4-4 tie with the London Bandits, January 21 move the Warriors into a third place tie with the Sarnia Junior Sting.
The Warriors came within 28 seconds of victory over the London Bandits January 21 but managed an important 4-4 tie.
Forty five seconds into the game Cameron Parsons found Mark Martin on the left side and he raced up ice and slid a nifty pass across to Owen Blain and he snapped it home for a 1-0 lead.
Reed Bowles got the start and made a brilliant poke check as the Bandits attempted to even the score on the next shift.
A defensive zone turnover was costly midway through the second as the Bandits capitalized with a shot from the point that got by Bowles. Unfortunately deGraaf was penalized for body contact a minute later and the Bandits took advantage to take a 2-1 lead. Eight seconds later deGraaf was penalized for tripping but fortunately the Warriors were able to kill it off. Late in the second Chambers put his wizardry on display weaving around the defenders before cutting inside with a beautiful toe drag and then snapping it home for a 2-2 tie.
Early in the third Chambers danced through the defenders and fired on net and the rebound came right to DeBoeck out front and he made no mistake snapping it past the Bandits netminder. Just over a minute later the Bandits capitalized with another power play goal knotting it up 3-3. Cassone picked up an unassisted backhanded marker two minutes later for a 4-3 advantage unfortunately a defensive zone miscue was costly and the Bandits tied it 4-4 with 27.2 seconds left.
This weekend the Warriors travel to Sarnia on February 4 and then they host Sarnia February 5 at the Allman Arena at 5:30 p.m. Both teams have identical records with one win, one loss and two ties.
Submitted by Elaine Pennington