The ‘07 Minor Peewee Rep team, sponsored by Royal LePage Hiller Realty fought hard all weekend at the Silverstick qualifier and skated away with the silver medal after an overtime loss in Stratford.
In their first game of the weekend the Warriors faced off against the Burlington Eagles Gold. Netminder Ryan McGill was tested early and rose to the challenge with solid saves. Ryan Gansevles opened the scoring with a beauty, assisted by Blair Stokes but the Eagles answered back to tie the game. Not to be out done, the Warriors fought back to take a 2-1 lead with a goal from Colin Schultz unassisted. The game would remain that way until the final minutes in the third when the Eagles capitalized on their power play to tie it 2-2.
Game two saw the Warriors battle the number one AA ranked team, the Burlington Cougars Blue. In a fast paced game both goalies saw end to end action and were continually tested. Net boss Zack Irvin was large and in charge throughout the game. The Cougars struck first but Stratford responded with a goal of their own from Gansevles, assisted by Carter Petrie. The 1-1 score would stick until the dying seconds of the game when Blake Hodgson chipped the puck up the ice to Stokes to lobbed one in for a 2-1 victory.
In their final pool play game Saturday morning the Warriors took on the Streetsville Tigers. Always a tough battle with the with Tigers, the Warriors came out strong with big defence down low from Jaxon Beirnes and Austin Musselman. Petrie found the back of the net first off a feed from Grady Murphy. Early in the second Gansevles nabbed Stratford’s second goal, assisted by Petrie and Murphy. Moments later the Tigers found themselves with a breakaway opportunity off an errant puck but Irvin quickly shut that door. Eventually the Tigers would tie the game but again Irvin made huge toe saves in the third giving his team the momentum they needed to find the winning goal from Murphy, assisted by Gansevles with minutes left in the game.
With a first place finish in their pool the Warriors found themselves in a re-match with the Burlington Eagles Gold squad. Stratford came to play with a decisive 4-0 win. Irvin was all business between the pipes, keeping their snipers at bay with the help of Zach Schultz, Rylan Hall and Aaron Green out front. Gansevles was on fire with three goals, assisted by Petrie (2) Murphy (2), and C. Schultz. Nathan Siebert added a sweet wrap around, assisted by Ryan McGee and Dawson White.
Gold medal action saw the Warriors battle the number one provincially ranked Burlington Cougars Blue again in front of an excited home town crowd. Once again these two teams went the distance in a solid battle that needed overtime to be decided. The Cougars struck first sliding one in past Irvin, but Stratford answered back quickly with Gansevles finding the back of the net, assisted by C.Schultz and Petrie. Breakaways, glove saves, denials, cross bars and even a Stratford puck on the Cougar goal line told the story for the second and third periods for both teams. Irvin was dynamite between the pipes as boys in front of him looked to pull ahead. Unfortunately, it was not to be and the Cougars nabbed an overtime goal with Stratford settling for silver.
Next action: November 10 @ 6:45 vs Burlington Cougars White, Molson Pad (Exhibition)