The Evoke Marketing Tier I Warriors came from behind to defeat the New Hamburg Huskies 5-4 in an exhibition game, March 17.
The game was a rematch of the Hespeler Olympics Cup final that was scoreless after regulation time. The Warriors won that game 1-0 in overtime.
With Nate Meadows away, the Warriors shook up the lines and defense pairings a little. Liam Micks, Ryan Watling, Nick McGill, Cohen Bowles and Ethan Schmidt manned the point while the forwards were Owen Martin, Ethan Bridges, Ryder Duchesne, Luke Hishon, Jason Adair, Alex Erb, Caleb Hurley, Colton Campbell and Parker Glitz.
The teams exchanged chances early unfortunately the Huskies snuck one past Malaika Kibedi just over three minutes in. She came up big seconds later when the Warriors gave up another odd man rush. The ensuing play resulted in a Huskies tripping penalty and that gave the home side a spark. Martin battled hard down low and it squirted out to Bridges along the boards, he found McGill at the point and his shot beat the netminder to knot it at one midway through the first. Unfortunately seconds later the Huskies found another man alone out front and he snapped it home. On the next shift, with the Huskies looking to pad their lead Kibedi made a big stop to keep it 2-1. The teams exchanged chances through the first and then early in the second the Huskies found another man alone behind the defense. Kibedi made the initial stop unfortunately in the attempt to freeze it, she kicked it into the net. She redeemed herself moments later to keep it within reach. Late in the second, Mac Munro came in and made some big saves especially with the Warriors on the power play.
Early in the third with the teams playing four on four, Martin dished to Hurley and he jumped on the loose puck and cut the deficit to one with 14:28 remaining. It gave the Comeback Kings renewed confidence and they were tenacious offensively. When the Huskies broke through Munro was there to make the save. The Warriors turned up the heat in the third with some impressive passing. Duchesne found Watling at the blueline and his point shot was stopped but Bridges snapped the rebound in to tie it up 3-3 with 7:49 remaining. Just over a minute later, the relentless attack was rewarded again when McGill's point shot deflected to Glitz and he sniped a beauty into the back of the net for a 4-3 lead with 6:35 to go. The Warriors continued the tenacious offensive attack limiting the chances for the Huskies until they pulled their goalie for the extra attacker late. Munro came up with two huge saves to preserve the victory including one with 2.7 seconds left.
The 2018-19 Evoke Marketing Tier I Novice Warriors include Nate Meadows, Nick McGill, Ryan Watling, Ryder Duchesne, Liam Micks, Cohen Bowles, Owen Martin, Ethan Bridges, Alex Erb, Caleb Hurley, Jason Adair, Parker Glitz, Ethan Schmidt, Luke Hishon, Colton Campbell, Mac Munro and Malaika Kibedi. Coaches are DJ Deline, Matt Smyth, trainer Rob Martin and manager Heather Bridges.