The Rheo Thompson Tier III Warriors captured third overall at the inaugural Junior Warriors Early Bird tournament on the weekend.
The Warriors opened with a 2-1 win over the Waterloo Wolves. Malaika Kibedi got the start in net and after one slipped through early, she turned aside the next 14 shots she faced through two periods.
Ethan Schmidt got the Warriors on the board after the feed from Liam Micks. Then Caleb Hurley used the boards to send Jason Adair in alone. He found the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Keeson DeYoung came in for the third and made some nice saves to preserve the one goal lead.
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Game two versus the high powered offence of the Vaughan Rangers proved to be the Warriors biggest test yet. Kibedi was busy from the start unfortunately Vaughan rang one off both posts and in midway through the first and built a 2-0 lead after one.
Vaughan turned it on in the second peppering Kibedi with 15 shots before sneaking one in glove side with 53.6 seconds to go.
Early in the third Ryder Duchesne fed a perfect pass to Adair and he rifled a shot high to cut the deficit to 3-1.
DeYoung made several solid stops unfortunately Vaughan walked away with a 5-1 win.
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Woodstock was next up and they came out strong in the early morning game. However Owen Martin found the bottom right corner after firing an unsuspecting shot on net from the blue line. Unfortunately Woodstock got on the board after firing a shot off goaltender Kibedi's head, the crossbar and in to knot it at one after the first period. Woodstock poured it on in the second, especially after scoring on a power play. They added one in the third to win 4-1.
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The Warriors wrapped up the tournament with a 7-0 win over Burlington. They kids were pumped up after watching a thrilling win for the Minor Atom Warriors the game beforehand. DeYoung got the start in net and while he wasn't busy, he was able to direct the puck to the corner.
Martin opened the scoring after the feed from Ryan Watling. For the 2nd goal, Schmidt took a pass from Ethan Bridges and raced in on a breakaway before flipping a shot over the netminder. Adair added an unassisted marker to go ahead 3-0 and then Martin won a draw and found Cohen Bowles out front. He slipped it five-hole for a 4-0 lead.
Schmidt and Liam Micks combined on a tic-tac-toe passing play and while Schmidt's shot was stopped, Luke Hishon jumped on the rebound and fired it over the goalkeeper for the Warriors 5th of the game.
Later on, Schmidt won another draw and found Micks in the slot where he found the top corner to make it 6-0. To give the Warriors the final and 7th goal of the game, Bridges held it in at the blue line and fired a pass to Martin. He fed Bowles for his second as the Warriors walked away with a decisive win. Thanks in large part to the back checking of the forwards and great defensive play by Nate Meadows, Colton Campbell, Alexander Erb and Ethan Bridges to neutralize the Burlington offense. Stratford only allowed one shot and DeYoung picked up a shutout.
It was a great weekend for these young Warriors - improving each game along the way.
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The Warriors are back in action October 7 when they open the regular season versus the North London Nationals at the RBC at 6 pm.