Novice Tier 1 Warriors Semi-Finalists At Prestigious Wayne Gretzky Internationals
Over the Christmas holidays the Evoke Marketing and
Promotions Novice Tier 1 Warriors competed at the prestigious Wayne Gretzky
Internationals and competed in the Tier 1 Division comprised of very strong A
and AA level teams and walked away 3rd of 11 teams with a proud semi-final
finish at the event.
Game 1 would have the boys face a Missisauga squad the Lorne Park Wild 31. The boys ran into a very strong goalie who faced 28 Warrior shots but the boys were able to solve him twice in the tight 2-1 Warrior win. Warrior goals came from the back end with Griffin Harvey and Owen Blackburn each netting one. Assisting on Blackburn's goal was Jake Schultz and Hudsyn Chaput while Maddyx Chaput earned the assist for Harvey. Jack Bannon and Reid Morris were strong forces for the Warriors protecting the defensive zone and keeping pucks in the Wild end. Player of the game for Stratford was Owen Blackburn.
Game 2 would have the Warriors face a very competitive Guelph Gryphons AA squad who have only 1 regular season loss this year. It took until midway through the 1st frame for the Gryphons to solve Keating but that would be the only goal of the period. Guelph would add to the lead early in the second but Hudsyn Chaput would cut the deficit in half on the PP with Jake Schultz and Griffin Harvey earning the assists.Graedon Smith would also score for the Warriors with the assist belonging to Nate VanBakel. The rest of the game was tight until the 3:33 mark when Guelph would find the net twice in less than a minute to seal the 5-2 win leaving the boys with a 1-1-0 record at the end of day 1 of the tournament. Jack Haines was moved up to forward and did a super job and was awarded player of the game for the squad.
Game 3 was against the hometown Brantford 99er's, yet another strong squad with a very respectable 19-7-2 record this season and has also 2 tournament Championships to be proud of this season. Stratford was well rested but without 2 players that had been bitten by the flu bug as the tournament continued. Nate Vanbakel would put the boys on the board midway through the 1st frame on a feed from Hudsyn Chaput and Caden Ollson. Hudsyn Chaput would add another to cap off the 1st period with a lead of 2-0. The niners would answer back early in the 2nd but Chaput would add a shorty to give the boys back the 2 goal lead. The game got a little chippy and both squads would take rests in the penalty box. Maddyx Chaput would take advantage of a break on the PK as he would find himself in alone on a stellar pass from Reid Morris to begin what would be the no look back point for Stratford. Hudsyn Chaput would earn 3 more PP goals for the squad as they would complete the game with a 7-2 win. Also earning assists for the Warriors would be Jake Schultz with (2) while Maddyx Chaput, Jack Haines and Caden Ollson each had 1. Carter Keating played a strong game in the net and Hudsyn Chaput earned player of the game for the Warriors.
The 4th game in round robin play was against the Hamilton Black squad who have been a dominent force in the Tier 1 East Divison this season. This Warriors would get an early goal from Hudsyn Chaput with Caden Ollson assisting. The Huskies would answer right back and that was the tempo of the game. Stratford would find themselves short handed for 12 minutes of the the 32 minutes of play but the gritty play of Maddyx Chaput helped propel the boys to the 4-3 win as he would enter the hat trick in the game. Assists belonged to Tyler Jackson and Owen Blackburn. Keating again played a strong game as the Huskies would win the shot count 19-13. Reid Morris would earn the player of the game for Stratford. At the end of the round robin play the boys had a 3-1-0 record and were seeded 3rd place of the 11 teams competing, this would have them face the 6th place squad in the quaters.
The Quater final matchup would be a rematch with a very hungry and hard skating Lorne Park Wild 31 team. The game would prove to be a very tight checking and hard fought battle for both squads. Stratford once again would be dealt the stronger of the the 2 Wild tenders and would have to find a solution to the netminder and that they did. Hudsyn Chaput would score a pair and Maddyx Chaput would enter a single for the squad. Earning helpers for the Chaput goals were Tyler Jackson, Owen Blackburn with (2), Griffin Harvey, Jake Schultz and Will Pepper.
Nate VanBakel would enter his strongest game of the tournament and earn himself player of the game for Stratford. The 3-1 win would earn the Warriors a berth in the semi-finals.
The semi-final matchup would be a rematch against a rested Guelph Gryphons squad who had the morning off as they had earned the bye for finishing in 2nd place. With Jack Bannon and Will Pepper both returning to the lineup the boys were ready to challenge for a championship game spot. The game was as predicted a tight checking low scoring affair which could have went either way. No scoring was entered in the 1st frame, it wasn't until the midway mark in the 2nd frame that Gueph would find the back of the net leaving them in the lead 1-0 at the end of the period. It was at the 10:24 mark of the 3rd when Guelph would find another break as a long shot from the point would take a bad bounce of a stick and enter the Warrior net. The boys would battle back hard when Griffin Harvey would find Hudsyn Chaput open to bury the puck to bring the boys back to within a goal. With time ticking and an empty Warrior net the boys could not find the equalizer. Final score was 3-1 with the EN goal. Jack Bannon would earn the player of the game for Stratford.
The coaching staff was very proud of the solid effort from the crew put forth this tourney as they played 6 good games and were just shy of a spot in the Championship. Next action for the crew will be the final regular season game against North London Sunday Jan 7/18 in London.