Bantam MD Warriors go undefeated in 3, News, Major Bantam MD, U14-U15 (Bantam), 2017-2018 (Stratford Minor Hockey Association)

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This Team is part of the 2017-2018 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Jan 31, 2018 | seidt | 1317 views
Bantam MD Warriors go undefeated in 3
The Jeffrey Custom Masonry Bantam MD Warriors went on a 3 game unbeaten streak recently with 2 wins and a tie.

The streak began with a 3-3 tie in a home tilt against New Hamburg.  The Warriors were sluggish out of the gate and found themselves down a goal in the opening minute. However, Stratford would rebound later in the period when Michael Pauli jumped on a rebound off a shot from Josh Rogers and made no mistake to tie the game.  New Hamburg would retake the lead early in the second period, but the resilient Warriors would claw back again midway through the frame when Rogers would tip in a point shot from Jackson Nickel. Spencer Eidt would also draw an assist on the play.  

Stratford would then take the lead on a nifty individual effort from Zach Freeland, who split the Huskies defence and beat the New Hamburg netminder with a crafty deke.  But despite out playing their opponent by a wide margin, the Warriors would find themselves in penalty trouble and relinquished the lead while shorthanded with 4 minutes remaining in the game.  Warrior goaltender Tanner Nuefeld played well down stretch turning aside several quality scoring chances, but the Warriors were unable to solve the New Hamburg goalie and the game ended in a tie.

 

The Warriors would then hit the road to kick off the 2nd half of their schedule in a match against a strong Hamilton Huskies squad.

Backstopped by a yeoman like effort by goaltender Nolan Traynor, Stratford took the play to their opponent for much of the contest and cruised to a 3-1 victory in their most complete game of the season.  The Warriors opened the scoring late in the first period when Carter Stock would rifle a well placed wrist shot over the shoulder of the Huskies netminder.  Zach Freeland drew the lone assist on the goal.  The Warriors used an aggressive forecheck to generate several more scoring chances throughout the second period, but were unable to build on their lead until the 5 minute mark of the third period when Freeland tipped a point shot from Spencer Eidt after a face off win from Stock.  The seeing eye tip would flip up over the Huskie goalie's shoulder and dropped in behind him.

A minute later, the Warriors would again be the beneficiaries of a fortunate bounce when Stock fired a hard shot on net that deflected off an opponents stick and found Freeland in front of the net with an empty net staring at him.  Freeland would make no mistake to put the Warriors up 3-0 with 4 minutes left. 

Hamilton pressured late and were finally able to solve Traynor in the final minutes to break his shutout bid, but the Warriors would hold on for the well deserved win.  

 

Next up for Stratford was another road contest in a sloppy rematch with New Hamburg that would end in a 3-1 victory for the Warriors. After an opening period that generated little excitement from either side, the Warriors would get on the board at the 8 minute mark of second when Zach Freeland would find the back of the net on a well placed shot. Jacob Bossence and Corey Van Nes would pick up assists on the goal. Stratford would strike again with 2 minutes remaining in the frame when Michael Pauli would connect on a nice setup from Spencer Eidt and Carter Stock. 

The Warriors would go up 3-0 in the opening minute of the third when Freeland would pick up his 5th goal in the past 3 games on a breakaway after a feed from Stock. Eidt would also draw an assist. 

Fortunately for the fans in attendance, the contest was curfewed with 5 minutes remaining and the Warriors were credited with the victory. 

 

After the trio of games, long time Warriors supporter Darren Akey mused "this could be the start of something special here folks. If these kids can give a tier one effort every game, it'll be curtains for the other teams in this league".  Parent rep Joel Boersma agreed, "Tier one all the way!".

 

The Warriors will look to build on their recent success with upcoming road games in Kitchener and Cambridge.

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