The Stratford Atom Warriors Rep Team, sponsored by Perth Auto Dismantler, played two action-packed games this weekend.
The first game was played at home on Saturday, October 5, at the Stratford RBC Arena, against the St. Thomas Stars.
Net-minder Quinn Smith, played at home. Griffin Harvey and Graedon Smith blasted some shots from the point to get the puck to the Stars net.. Reid Morris, started the scoring with a nice pass from Jake Schultz, to get the game rolling. St. Thomas was sent to the penalty box, allowing Caden Ollson and Jake Schultz to hustle in front of the net. Can Munro was fighting his way down the ice towards Star's net. Munro passed to Ollson, who found the low corner of the net to score the second goal in the game.St. Thomas answered back at 4:37 in the third to make the score 2-1. The Stars pulled their goalie to try and battle for another point, only to be disappointed. Stratford players worked together to hold their lead with some crucial last minute saves, and strong defensive play. The score remained 2-1.
Sunday's game, was away, at the Kitchener Sportsworld Arena against the Kitchener Jr. Rangers.
Their was no score at the end of the first period.
Kitchener started the scoring at 14:26 in the second. Griffin Harvey put his stick to work with one of the first shots on net. Forward Piers Murray, dug hard in the corners, to pass the puck out to his team mates. Goalie, Carter Keating, backed up his team with several glove saves against Kitchener. The Jr. rangers found the net again at 8:35 in the first. Graedon Smith defended the corners and delivered the puck out. Kitchener scored two quick shots to make the score 4-0. At 4:37 Stratford was penalized and suffered another goal by Kitchener to make it 5-0. With 1:49 left in the period, Kitchener was given a penalty and Stratford used it to their advantage! With 43 seconds left , Cam Munro did a quick loop of the ice, burst to the net and then he shot top corner to ping a goal! Reid Morris and Nate Van Bakel, battled in the corner, while Keiran Johnson and Ty Jackson tried several passes to set up plays in front of the Kitchener net.
Evan Hughes and Jake Schultz tried some fancy passing to try to break the goalie but bounced off the glove. Will Pepper disrupted the Kitchener players with some strong stick work. Ty Jackson had a quick shot from the point. At 11:59, Stratford had another power play, so Graedon Smith skated the length of the ice to get it to the Star's end, followed by a sweet pass from Hughes to Schultz to score!
Another Stratford Power play allowed Owen Blackburn to snipe a shot from the top of the circle. Another few Kitchener penalties, gave Stratford a Power play until the end of the game. Stratford kept up the intensity with a few strong shots from Rowan Green at the point and Caden Ollson battling at the net. Unfortunately, the Game finished with a loss of 5-2.
The Stratford Atom Rep Warriors, will see game action again this Friday, October 11, in London, against the Junior Mustang White at 6:30.
Written By: Tarra Green