The Evoke Marketing Tier I Warriors travelled to Sarnia March 11 for a tilt with the junior Sting. Playing short one defender and two forwards due to vacation, the squad knew that they would have to play a solid team game to defeat the bigger junior Sting.
A different venue might have resulted in a better outcome as it quickly became obviously the calls were not going to go the Warriors way in this game.
The Warriors stayed with the second place junior Sting until the officials refused to blow the whistle despite the fact Noah Brosens had it covered for several seconds. The junior Sting eventually pushed Brosens and the puck into the net at the 7:29 mark of the second frame for a 1-0 lead, drawing the ire of the Stratford coaches and fans. An immediate tripping call on Cole Hishon handed Sarnia the man advantage which resulted in a power play goal. Then four minutes later Charlie Holloway was called for body checking and again Sarnia found a way to break through to take a 3-0 lead.
Despite being badly outshot the Warriors refused to give up. Finally with just under two minutes to go Chambers weaved through the defenders on an end to end rush but his shot was stopped. Owen Blain was there to snap it over the goalie to make it 3-1.
With 25 seconds left the Warriors were finally given a power play but it was too little too late and the Warriors dropped a 3-1 decision.
Stratford finished fourth overall and move on to face the first place West London Hawks in a four point semifinal. The Warriors travel to London March 18 for a 12:30 p.m. tilt and host the Hawks March 19 at the Allman Arena at 3 p.m. game three is March 22 and then the teams are slated to face off March 23.
Submitted by Elaine Pennington