The Stratford Warrior Jeffrey Custom Masonry continued
their quest for greatness with 3 games this past week.
On Wednesday, the Warriors hosted the Woodstock Jr Navy Vets in a gritty affair. The first period opened with scoring chances for both teams in the opening minute. The back and forth play continued for throughout the period with Stratford goaltender Nolan Traynor and the Woodstock netminder trading highlight reel saves. The second frame would see much of the same back and forth with the goaltenders stealing the show. The Warriors got into penalty trouble late in the period and after a highly disputable major penalty, call Stratford found themselves down 2 men to begin the third period. The resilient Warriors, highlighted by some excellent work by Corey Van Nes and Brody Jeffrey, killed off back to back 5 on 3 power plays to open the final frame, but it would not be enough as Woodstock would connect at the 9 minute mark to open the scoring. Despite a strong effort to close the game, the Warriors could not solve the Woodstock goalie. The Navy Vets would add an empty netter let to take the game 2-0.
Stratford would head out on the road Saturday to take on an old familiar foe in the London Bandits. Shorthanded due to injuries and suspensions, the Warriors battled hard but would come up short on this night with the Bandits handing them their second straight 2-0 loss. The first period was a seesaw affair with both teams trading scoring chances, but neither finding the back of the net. Goalie Tanner Nuefeld kept the Bandits at bay to preserve a scoreless tie heading into the second period, but the Bandits strike early in the second to take 1-0 lead. Stratford would come close to knotting things up on several occasions throughout second and third period, but eventually ran out of steam. London would add an insurance marker with 3 minutes remaining to seal the victory and hand the Warriors their fourth 2 goal loss in five games. Owen Akey and Michael Pauli paced the Warriors attack with 3 shots on goal each.
Back on home on Sunday facing the Burlington Bulldogs, the Warriors would put together their most complete game of the year thus far. It didn’t take the home side long to snap out of their 2 games goalless drought as Josh Rogers struck in the opening minute to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. Spencer Eidt drew the assist on a nice feed to spring his winger. That lead would be short-lived however as Stratford’s lack of discipline would rear its head once again and the Burlington would strike with the man advantage to pull even. Burlington would take the lead at the 5 minute mark, but Rogers would strike again with his second goal of the period on a nifty breakaway feed from Ethan Boersma with 2 minutes left in the opening frame. The Warriors attack was silent for most of the second period as they were again forced to kill off a rash of penalties. Burlington would score twice in the period to take a 2 goal lead into the third. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Warriors would emerge from the intermission like a team possessed. Diminutive forward Zach Freeland would answer for the home team on a powerplay early in the third to give them a jolt. Jacob Bossence and Maddox Keller would draw assists on the tally. The Warriors would feed off this energy and dominate play for the remainder of the game, generating scoring chance after scoring chance. Carter Stock would narrowly miss knotting the game hitting a post and a crossbar on separate drives during the same shift. The onslaught would continue, but the Bulldog goaltender was equal to the task, turning the Stratford attack away time and time again. Two late penalties would stymie offence and negate the tying goal, but make no mistake, this was the Warriors most dominating period of the season. Despite the 4-3 loss, the Warriors were the better team on this night.
“That was a Tier 1 effort right there people”, Parent Rep Joel Boersma quipped after the game. “Tier 1 all the way!”
The Warriors will look to build on this momentum in the upcoming week with games against Waterloo and Kitchener.