Ryan Cassone had a career high four goals and two assists and Owen Blain had two goals and three assists as the Evoke Marketing Tier I Warriors rolled to a convincing 7-0 victory over the Oakridge Aeros, February 12.
Early in the first, Cassone jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone and wheeled up ice before ripping a shot by the Aeros netminder. Less than two minutes later and with the Warriors on a power play, Taten Mikel and Blain combined to set up Cassone and he fired towards the net. The puck deflected off a defender's stick and in for a quick 2-0 lead. With just over two minutes to go in the first Mark Martin raced up the left side and he fired on net. Owen Bridges raced in for the rebound and shoveled it home to make it 3-0. With 1:06 to go in the first, Mikel and Blain set Cassone up for the hat trick and he made no mistake giving Stratford a commanding 4-0 lead.
The teams exchanged chances in the second and both goalies made several great saves. Mikel and Cassone set up Blain who fired on net and it deflected off a defender and in for a commanding 5-0 advantage. Late in the second Bridges was driven into the boards hard resulting in a four minute power play for head contact but the Warriors were unable to capitalize.
All three lines demonstrated heart and tenacity coming back hard to help on defence and forechecking hard and it clearly paid off as they won most of the individual battles.
With just over 11 minutes to go in the third, Oakridge was penalized for cross checking and the Warriors went to work. Blain chipped the puck off the boards past the defender sending Cassone in alone. He deked and then slid a beautiful backhander through the five hole for a six goal cushion.
Two minutes later Cassone raced down the right side and into the corner before taking a look and seeing Blain wide open out front. Blain found the back of the net to seal a 7-0 victory. Noah Brosens earned the shutout with several huge saves.
The Warriors definitely brought their A game to the rink February 11 as they hosted the first place West London Hawks.
Less than two minutes in the Hawks took advantage of a power play opportunity to open the scoring and added another minutes later however the Warriors cut the lead in half after Owen Chambers weaved through the defenders and shot on net. Colten Brenzil was there to snap it home.
Midway through the second Chambers fed Brenzil and he raced up ice and cut to the net and knotted it up 2-2. Late in the second Chambers picked it up behind the net and wheeled up the right side before dragging it around the defender and sliding a beautiful backhander in for a 3-2 lead at the end of the second frame.
Early in the third, the Hawks tied it up. Then
Reed Bowles absolutely robbed a Hawks forward parked alone in the slot. The Hawks took the lead with 4:11 remaining but then Colston Kibedi fed Chambers who wheeled through the defenders and slid it short side to knot it up 4-4 with 3:18 to go. Unfortunately the Hawks broke up a rush and snuck one in for a 5-4 advantage with 2:23 remaining.
Bowles was busy throughout making several enormous saves to keep it close as the Hawks peppered him with 31 shots while the Warriors fired 10 at the Hawks netminder.
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The Warriors fought hard the weekend of February 4-5 but dropped two games to the Sarnia Junior Sting.
On February 4, the Sting walked away with an 8-4 victory. Chambers led the way with two unassisted goals and Cassone had a goal and an assist and Blain added a single tally while Mikel picked up an assist.
It was a different Warriors team February 5 as the teams battled to a scoreless draw after the first. Noah Brosens came up with several stellar stops.
Seconds into the middle frame Kibedi broke up a play inside the blueline and fed Colten Brenzil who found Cole Hishon on the left side. He raced up ice on a two on one with Rylan DeBoeck. Hishon slid a nifty pass across to DeBoeck and he made no mistake and buried it. Unfortunately two minutes later the Sting tied it up. Midway through the third Hishon jumped on the rebound of a Brenzil shot and slid it.
Sarnia tied it up on a delayed penalty call and then took the lead a minute later. With the Warriors pushing to tie it up, Sarnia intercepted and potted one into the empty net.
Eight games in to the playoffs, the Warriors are in fourth overall with two games in hand over the London Bandits.
The Warriors are back in action this weekend when they host the Oakridge Aeros at 7 p.m. at the RBC arena and then head to London to Oakridge Aeros February 19.