The Evoke Marketing Warriors came away with an exciting 4-2 victory over the Oakridge Aeros, February 16.
Malaika Kibedi got the start and was busy early. Defenders Nate Meadows, Cohen Bowles, Ryan Watling, Ryder Duchesne, Liam Micks and Nick McGill did a great job of limiting the chances and getting any rebounds out of harm's way. The forwards worked hard on the backcheck. Unfortunately Oakridge scored late in the first on a rebound to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Kibedi came up with several big saves in the second including one on a breakaway unfortunately Oakridge added to its lead on a two man breakaway with 14.6 seconds left in the second.
The Warriors regrouped in the third and defensively refused to give up. The 'Comeback Kings' were reborn with a beautiful cross ice pass from Caleb Hurley to Owen Martin, who from an almost impossible angle, rifled a shot bar down to cut the deficit to one. A huge stop on a three on one gave the Warriors even more momentum. Minutes later Martin and Ethan Bridges found Alex Erb in the slot and he ripped a beauty into the back of the net to tie it up with 8:46 to go. A minute and a half later Hurley stole the puck in the neutral zone and raced in on a breakaway and found the top corner. Twenty four seconds later Bridges slipped a pass cross centre ice to Ethan Schmidt who raced in and found the far corner for a 4-2 lead. Kibedi shut the door the rest of the way playing her best game of the year. It was a great team effort leading to their first playoff victory.
The young crew came to the rink dressed in style, hoping to build on the win from the day before. The Warriors came out hungry versus the North London Nationals, February 17. The Warriors pressed the attack and were able to test the Nationals early as the teams exchanged chances. Mac Munro got the start and made the first stop unfortunately the Nationals capitalized on the rebound to open the scoring midway through the first. The offense turned it up a notch and the defense shutdown the Nationals through the rest of the first and the second. Midway through the second, Meadows and Bridges combined on a nice defensive zone breakout to feed Hurley at center ice. He sped up the ice and although his shot was stopped, Jason Adair jumped on the rebound to tie it up. Less than a minute later Meadows point shot gave the Warriors the lead. Munro came up with some big timely saves to preserve the lead, including a beautiful glove save. Good offensive zone pressure allowed Hurley to connect with Schmidt who slid a pass from the corner out from to Luke Hishon. He backhanded it in for a 3-1 lead with 33.1 seconds left in the second.
Early in the third, Hishon fed a nice pass to Colton Campbell in our zone which sprung him loose on a quick rush, however the National defender played it just right to force him wide eliminating the opportunity to pad the lead. The first place Nationals turned it up after that and Munro made several great saves as the teams exchanged chances. After a nasty hit behind the net that injured Bridges at the 8-min mark, the momentum shifted as the Warriors were now down two forwards. The Nationals scored with 5:34 to go and ripped one off Munro's head to tie it with 1:30 left. Unfortunately the Nationals scored with 26.5 seconds remaining to steal the win.
It was another great effort that the team will be looking to build on February 23 at West London Hawks and February 24 when they host Oakridge Aeros at 1 p.m. at the Allman.