Feb 12, 2018 | schaput | 577 views
No Quit Warriors Earn A Win and A Tie In Playoffs This Past Weekend
The Novice Tier 1 Warriors sponsored by Evoke Marketing and Promotions
had 2 road playoff games this past weekend and earned a comeback win on
Friday night in London and a battled back to earn a late tie in Sarnia
Sunday afternoon.
Friday nights matchup was against a very hungry West London Hawks team, but the Warriors matched their enthusiasm with a strong skating and resilliant effort of their own. The Hawks would find the opening goal 2:32 into the 1st frame but the Warriors would answer back when Maddyx Chaput went top shelf to tie the game. The match remained a stalemate for the remainder of the 1st frame and no scoring was entered in the 2nd period for either team. It took until almost midway through the 3rd when the Hawks would jump back to the lead, but again when Maddyx Chaput would answer back to tie the game for Stratford. Less than 0:10 later Hudsyn Chaput gave the boys the GWG when he let a rocket go from inside the blueline that found the top of the net. Will Pepper and Caden Ollson assisted on the go ahead goal. The last few minutes of the game kept Keating extra busy as he defended the Warrior net with pride when Owen Blackburn would take control of the puck and feed Hudsyn Chaput with a beauty stretch pass where Chaput made no mistake in finding the net for the squad. Final result was a 4-2 win and 2 well earned points for the Warriors.
Saturday morning came early for the boys as they returned home late from London when they would again board the bus to take a trip to Sarnia in search for their 2nd win of the weekend. The boys were full of energy and ready to battle and the scoreboard would reflect that as they jumped out to an early lead when Jake Schultz picked up a loose puck out front of Sarnia's net and earned the boys a 1-0 advantage. Sarnia battled back and 2:52 later would even the score 1-1. Stratford would keep the pressure on the Sting and were rewarded when Griffin Harvey would take the play end to end and made no mistake beating the Sarnia tender to give the boys a 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd frame. Nate VanBakel had a keen eye and spotted Harvey for the lead pass in the play. The Warriors would keep battling and had a handful of quality chances to pad the lead but puck luck wasn't on their side for that portion of the game. The Sting would find the equalizer at the 6:50 mark of the 3rd and then found the go ahead goal with 1:21 remaining. Stratford would regroup and remained focussed as they would turn a final Sting attempt back when Hudsyn Chaput would bring the puck back down into Sarnia's zone, with Keating out of the net and the extra attacker pressing Jake Schultz would find Maddyx Chaput behind the Sting's net who spotted Hudsyn Chaput open in the slot when Chaput would tie the game with 0:33 left to play. Final score was a well deserved 3-3 tie and a valuable point to keep the Warriors in top spot in the playoffs.
Next action for the Warriors will be a home and home with the Oakridge Aeros, with game 1 being played at home Saturday night on the Molson Pad and the return visit to Oakridge for an evening matchup on Family Day.