Written by Dave Graff. The SMHA Cherrey Bus Lines Minor Bantam rep team participated in the
Barrie Colts AA hockey tournament over the past weekend and after making it to
Sunday play for the fourth time in four tournaments this season, the Warriors
fell 3-0 to the eventual tournament champion Mississauga North Stars in the
semi finals.
Despite outshooting the winners 20-15 overall and the game being scoreless after two periods the North Stars were able to gain some momentum back and find the back of the net for three third period scores. Tallyn Soper had 12 saves in the loss while Warrior player of the game Caleb Musselman had several chances on offense but a solid Mississauga tender just refused to be beaten on this day.
The Warriors started the tournament on Friday with two victories. Game one was a 3-0 win over the Markham Islanders with Nolan Traynor stopping 11 shots for the shutout. Carter Musselman had two goals in the win while Caleb Musselman had the other. Ben ten Hag had two assists while Braydon Tinning, Patrick Holloway, Brady Ballantyne and Erik Smith had one each.
Game two saw the Warriors outshoot the Mississauga Braves 36-9 in a 5-2 victory. Holloway had two goals, Jack Whitehead, and both Musselman boys one each while Ballantyne had three helpers, Owen Fraser two and Nathan Graff, ten Hag and Holloway one a piece.
The Warriors started Saturday play with a 2-2 tie against Streetsville. ten Hag had both goals while Caleb Musselman, Ballantyne and Whitehead had helpers. In the final round robin game which would end up determining the top four playoff seeding in the 10 team tournament the Warriors fell 2-1 to the North Stars. After Smith banged in a ten Hag rebound to close the gap to one goal mid way through the second period Stratford just could not find the equalizer despite buzzing around the Mississauga goal for much of the third period. Soper had 14 saves in the Stratford goal.