On Friday morning the Stratford Warrior Minor Bantam team squared up against the Cumberland Jr Grads for their opening game of the Stratford Early Bird Tournament. On the warm September day the Duff was just as cold as you would expect
but the Warriors were hot! The first period and a half the two teams were neck and neck but then Stratford started to come on strong, defense worked hard to protect a stellar Koen Gerber between the pipes and offence applied pressure which turned into a 7-2
Win! Scoring for the Warriors were: Ben Fizell (3), Dylan Fischer (2), AP call-up Carter Petrie, Nathan Gibb and assists going to Jericho McNichol (2), Kaleb Martin (2), Brett Knechtel, Jackson Campbell, Ben Fizell, Nate Framst and Cole Humphrey.
Friday night’s event was a match against London Jr Mustangs Purple. APs Carter Petrie and Colin Schultz were called up to fill in due to injuries. The Warriors battled hard right form the start, after a scoreless first period the Warriors would open up the scoring in the 2nd. London would come back to tie the game and then go ahead in the 3rd. The Warriors were determined to not give up and scored in the last couple minutes of the game to end in a tie of 2-2. Scoring for Stratford were: Ben Fizell and Cole Humphrey with assists going to Jackson Campbell and Owen Gaylor.
Saturday morning the Warriors headed over to the Tavistock arena to take on the Brantford 99ers. Stratford worked hard and kept pressure on the 99ers outshooting them 15-8 but could not get anything past their goalie and would fall 2-0 to Brantford.
In 2nd place of round robin play the Warriors would head back to the Duff on Saturday night to battle the Jr Mustangs again. The stakes were high and so was the intensity level of players from both benches. The Warriors would continue to cycle the puck well and challenge the London goalie but fell behind 2-0 until late in the 3rd period. Two timely goals would press the match into overtime. Stratford dug deep but could not get by the London goalie, London would take the match 3-2 nearing the end of the OT period. Scoring for Stratford were: McNichol and Fischer with assists going to Fizell and McNichol.
All players on the Stratford team displayed a level of skill, tenacity and determination this past weekend that will serve them well as they head back into the regular season. Next weekend Stratford travels to London on Saturday to play the Jr Knights (Green) and then host a rematch with London Jr Mustangs (Purple) on Sunday.