The Stratford Warriors Minor Atom MD’s have really demonstrated in the past few weeks when you put the effort in and play with your whole heart, good things happen.
The Warriors faced the Hamilton Huskies on Saturday in a rough battle. The Huskies tried to knock Stratford off their game in the first, but Nash McIlroy showed them that we weren’t going to play that way by opening up the scoring in the first with passes from Oscar Seip and Finley Newton. In the second, Rem Hruden put in the second Stratford goal with a pass again from defenseman Seip. Liam Benton added a third goal with the support of Hunter Hallock. The third period saw Stratford gaining momentum Andre Lefebvre scored with linemates Hallock and Benton, then the line scored again with Hallock getting another goal. Benton added another goal after tipping in a shot from the point by defenseman Blake McIntosh. In the last few minutes of play, Hruden scored Stratford’s final goal with help from Ethan Preistap and Newton. Stratford came out on top 7-0.
The second game of the weekend was truly one for the books! Stratford met up with the strong Brantford 99ers. Though Stratford was down two players, the bench was buzzing, ready to play. Stratford knew that they couldn’t let their guard down. The boys took to the ice in a fierce battle. Tayler Cook opened up the scoring with a pass from Nash McIlroy in the first. Stratford was pumped! In the second Ethan Priestap added another Stratford goal with support from Finley Newton and Will McKee to make it 2-0. The beginning of the third saw Brantford getting one in after a funny bounce off of the helmet of goaltender Jake Taylor who had made some dramatic saves to keep Brantford out. With the score 2-1 in the third, the Warriors turned to their defensive game strategy. Alex Robinson had some amazing passes to linemates out front but, Brantford goalie was ready for the shot. Defensemen Owen Van Gestel, Preston Jeffrey, Oscar Seip and Will McKee stood strong shutting down Brantford’s attack even though exhausted. With 30 seconds left in the third, a frustrated Brantford called a timeout. Stratford knew this would be the hardest 30 seconds as Brantford pulled their goalie. Stratford answered back by digging in and battling for the puck, never letting it get deep in their end. It was a spectacular win for Stratford, the boys celebrated like they were the Eagles winning the Super Bowl!