Warriors hope to build momentum, News, Tier 1 Novice, U8-U9 (Novice), 2018-2019 (Stratford Minor Hockey Association)

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This Team is part of the 2018-2019 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Jan 17, 2019 | Heather Bridges | 591 views
Warriors hope to build momentum
The Evoke Marketing Tier I Warriors kicked off 2019 with an exhibition game versus Mitchell Novice Rep on January 12 and came away with an exciting 5-3 win.

The Warriors opened the scoring when Jack deGraaf, making his debut as an AP, found Luke Hishon in the neutral zone and he raced in and ripped it past Mitchell netminder Bryson Eickmeyer. Meteor Carson Lubbers tied it up before Caleb Hurley set Jason Adair up for the go ahead tally early in the second. Mac Munro made several highlight reel saves to preserve the lead before turning it over to Malaika Kibedi late in the second. Early in the third, Kibedi made the first save but Lubbers jumped on the rebound with Ray Wolfe picking up the assist. Minutes later on the power play, Nick McGill's point shot was stopped but Ethan Bridges tapped the rebound home for a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately it was short lived as Lubbers roofed a shot to knot it at three seconds later.  Seconds after coming out of the penalty box, Hurley redeemed himself by dangling through the Mitchell zone and slipping it home with 4:03 to go. Adair earned an assist. Then with Mitchell pressing for the equalizer Kibedi came up with several big saves unfortunately the Warriors had to kill off another penalty with 27 seconds left. Owen Martin sealed a 5-3 victory with an empty netter with 1.1 seconds remaining in the game.

On January 13, the Sarnia Jr Sting were in town and walked away with an 4-1 victory. Munro was busy from the start and rose to the challenge with a huge glove save keeping the team in the game. Late in the first Hurley dished it back to McGill and his point shot found the back of the net. Unfortunately Sarnia tied it up on a breakaway less than a minute later. Sarnia added three more, including an empty netter, in the third to win 4-1. Munro turned aside several shots, keeping the Warriors in it as long as possible.

On January 14, the Warriors traveled to London to face the North London Nationals. Unfortunately a couple bad bounces ended up in the back of the net giving the Nationals a 2-0 lead 5 minutes in. Kibedi made several huge saves including one on a breakaway and then Owen Martin put a beauty into the top corner with 33 seconds left in the first. The Nationals made it 3-1 in the second but the Warriors refused to give up. Hishon found the top corner early in the third on a 2-on-1 rush and then Adair set Hurley up on a breakaway. He deked and then slipped it home to tie it up 3-3. The Nationals pushed for the lead unfortunately adding two late in the frame to win 5-3.

The Warriors are currently in fifth place overall and will be looking to move up when they return to league action January 26 when they face the West London Hawks and January 27 when they host the Oakridge Aeros. But first, a rematch with the Mitchell Meteors will take place at the Allman on Sunday.




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