After a
promising run to the championships last spring, the Jeffrey Custom Masonry
Minor Bantam MD Warriors opened the 2017-18 season with 3 tough losses
recently.
The Warriors opened their season on the road in Hamilton against a pesky Huskies squad. And while Stratford carried the play for much of the contest, a few breakdowns in their own end ultimately saw them fall 4-2 to the Huskies. Hamilton opened the scoring with 2 first period goals. The Warriors would answer on the power play early in the second on a nifty 3 way passing play which saw Zach Freeland pot Stratford’s first goal of the season. Ethan Boersma and Carter Stock would draw the assists. The Warriors would go on to dominate the period, but some slick net minding from the Hamilton goaltender would leave the Warriors down one heading to the final frame. The third period started with a flourish for the Warriors, but they were again unable to capitalize on their scoring chances. A bad line change lead to an odd man rush for Hamilton and they made no mistake to regain their 2 goal advantage and leave the Warriors in another hole with less than 10 minutes remaining. However, Stratford would claw back to within one moments later when defenseman Jackson Nickel made an excellent read and picked off a Huskie pass, then walked in alone and beat the Hamilton goalie top shelf on a daft individual effort. Unfortunately, that we be all she wrote for the Warriors on this night as despite a determined final few minutes, Stratford was unable pull themselves even. Hamilton would put the nail in the coffin with a fourth goal with just under 2 minutes remaining. Promising first games from Corey Van Nes and Michael Pauli were bright spots for Stratford on this night and goaltender Tanner Nuefeld was solid in his debut as a Warrior
Next, the Warriors would travel to Sarnia to take on the Sting in a Saturday matinee against one of the league powerhouses. Sarnia did not disappoint as they used their superior puck movement to frustrate the Warriors all game and came away with a 3-0 victory. This frustration reared it’s head early as the Stratford squad found themselves shorthanded 4 times in the first period alone. However, the goalie Nolan Traynor and the Warrior penalty kill were excellent on the penalty kill and Sarnia was only able to capitalize once with the man advantage in the opening frame. Stratford picked up their play in the second generating several solid scoring chance and limiting the Sting attack. Traynor came up huge with a glove save near the end of the second to keep the Warriors in the game trailing 1-0 heading into the intermission. The third period began with a Sarnia goal in the opening minute, which deflated the Warrior attack. Further penalty trouble limited any chances of a Stratford comeback and Sarnia would put the game out of reach for good on the powerplay with 2 minutes remaining. While not a lot of positives could be taken from this game, Jake Bossence and Josh Rogers forechecked like wild dogs for the entire contest, while Spencer Eidt was a force on defense limiting Sarnia’s attack.
In their home opener on Sunday, the Warriors played host to the Brantford 99ers at the Allman. It was a back and forth affair between 2 evenly matched opponents. The Warriors trend of taking more penalties than their opponent continued and they fell behind early on a another powerplay goal against with less than 10 seconds remaining in the opening period. The Warriors would respond in the opening minutes of the second period, when Zach Freeland found the back of the net on a feed from Carter Stock. Brantford would regain the lead at the midway point of the period and despite Stratford carrying the play for most of the period, they could not solve the 99ers goaltender. The tenacious Warriors opened the third with a flurry and connected on the powerplay at the 10 minute mark to draw back to even when Freeland would strike again with Jackson Nickel and Maddox Keller drawing assists. Unfortunately, Brantford would answer on the powerplay moments later to restore their 1 goal lead and would add another in the closing minutes to escape Stratford with a 4-2 victory. Brody Jeffrey played a whale of a game – blocking shots and creating scoring chances all game while Owen Akey was fierce on the forecheck for the third straight game.
At his post game press conference, manager Steve Eidt chalked up the slow to start to the many new faces in the room, saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day people. A lot of new faces on this team. It will take some time to find the right combinations and for these guys to jell. It’s a long season folks, but I walk away from this first week with my head held high!”
Team Advisor Jeff Keller remarked, “Well, at the least the new jerseys looked good!”.
The Warriors will face Woodstock and London next week in an attempt to capture their first victory.