The Evoke Marketing Tier I Warriors turned in two fantastic periods of playoff hockey versus the first place West London Hawks March 4 and then defeated the North London Nationals 11-1, March 5 and are in fourth overall despite a tie with 14 points. The Bandits have a game in hand as well as a victory over the Warriors.
With Mark Martin away and Nolan Miller still recovering from injury the Warriors were forced to play with eight forwards and five defenders.
Reed Bowles got the start versus West London and was tested early. Unfortunately less than two minutes in Moore one of the Hawks snipers slipped around the defenders and roofed it high glove side to make it 1-0. The teams exchanged chances in the first with the Warriors holding a 7-5 advantage on the shot clock.
Less than two minutes into the second, with the Warriors on a power play, Owen Chambers was taken into the boards drawing a two-man advantage. Owen Blain won the draw and Ryan Cassone netted one to knot it up 1-1. Unfortunately late in the second the defenders got crossed up leaving the attacker wide open out front and he buried it for a 2-1 lead. The Warriors held a 13-8 shot advantage after two periods as they had several glorious chances to either take a 2-1 lead or tie it.
Unfortunately the third period was a different story as a deflection off a glove, and several bad bounces allowed Moore to add two more while Teale added his second and Edwards also added two to walk away with an 8-1 victory.
On March 5, the Warriors were also missing Cameron Parsons due to illness. The boys were passing and taking advantage of what the Nationals gave them and in resulted in a convincing 11-1 win.
Colten Brenzil won the draw, raced up ice and found Rylan DeBoeck. His shot was stopped but Cole Hishon was there to snap in the rebound nine seconds in. Less than a minute later Colston Kibedi found Hishon and he took off up ice with DeBoeck. Inside the line he fed it across to DeBoeck and he wired a shot glove side for a 2-0 lead with 8:55 left in the first period. Forty-four seconds later Chambers weaved through the defenders and tucked it short side for a 3-0 advantage.
He demonstrated more of his magic early in the second putting the home side up 4-0 less than three minutes in. The next shift Casen deGraaf banked one in off the defender unassisted to make it 5-0 and then just over a minute later Kibedi found DeBoeck and he snapped a shot that Brenzil was there to flip over the sprawling netminder for a 6-0 advantage. With four minutes left in the second Kibedi found Cassone on the right side and he raced around behind the net and tucked it in to make it 7-0. Less than a minute later Blain won the draw to Taten Mikel and he found Cassone who potted his second of the night giving the Warriors an 8-0 lead.
Nineteen seconds after that Brenzil raced in and fired but Owen Bridges jumped on the rebound and buried it giving Stratford a nine goal cushion. With a minute to go in the period deGraaf found Hishon and he snuck one five hole for a 10-0 lead after two periods prompting a goalie change.
At the 8:47 mark of the third, the Nationals solved Bowles to make it 10-1 and then with just over three minutes remaining Kibedi used his reach to keep it in at the point and he found Cassone who ripped a shot on net and Blain flipped it up and in to round out the scoring 11-1.
The Warriors have a 6-6-2 record and 14 points with one game remaining. They travel to Sarnia March 11 for the final playoff match. Currently tied for third overall with the London Bandits with 14 points, the Warriors need at least a tie versus Sarnia and two losses by the Bandits to move in to third overall. Otherwise the Warriors will face the West London Hawks in the playdown round.
Submitted by Elaine Pennington