The Warriors started the ‘road trip’ last Thursday against the Brantford 99’ers and came away with a thrilling 7-6 victory. The game was a back-and-forth contest, with teams exchanging leads several times, including the Warriors battling back from a 3-0 deficit in the first period to tie the game at 3-3 by the end of the second period. Cole Lewis converted a shorthanded 2-on-1, from Jonas Schmidt and Anthony Guzvinec, with just 19 seconds to go in the game. With the Warriors trailing 5-4 with just 2:44 to go, Schmidt knotted the game at 5-5 and less than a minute later Guzvinec, with his first of the season, gave the Warriors the lead. The 99’ers scored with 54 seconds left and their goalie on the bench to tie it up, setting up the shorthanded marker.
In the second game, the Warriors headed to Sarnia on Saturday to face the Jr. Sting. The Warriors played a much more solid team defensive game and goalie Curtis Ball turned in a very solid game and earned the shutout in the 3-0 victory.
On Sunday, the Warriors were off to Cambridge to face the Hawks and despite getting out to an early 2-0 lead, the Warriors eventually lost by a score of 4-2. With the defeat the Warriors lost for the first time in Alliance regular season play since October 16th, where the Warriors racked up six straight wins.
On Tuesday night in St Thomas, the Warriors jumped out to a lead and never looked back, earning a 5-1 victory over the Jr Stars.
In the road trip finale in London, the Warriors faced off against the Jr Mustangs Purple and skated away with a 5-0 victory, with goalie Russel Sebben earning the shutout in the contest and making several good saves when called upon, especially during a stretch of Warrior penalty kills where he went across the crease to deny several Jr Mustangs players.
Schmidt with 10 points, including four goals, Tyler Wagler with four goals and 5 points, and Issac Deline with a goal and 6 assists, paced the Warriors' offence. Jacob Hall has been heating up offensively in the past few weeks and added a goal and 5 assists. Aubrey Carter and Lewis each had three goals, with Caleb Arent, Guzvinec, Ethan Scrimgeour, and Zach McCann all adding single markers. Nole Musselman, Drew Wilken, Lewis and Guzvinec also added two assists each, with singles from Arent, Barber, and Scrimgeour.
Notes: the Warriors face off on Sunday at 4:30pm against the newest addition to the Alliance, the Burlington Jr Cougars, for the first time this season and host the visitors at the Dufferin Arena; after a slow 1-5 start to the Alliance regular season, the Warriors have rattled off an 8-2 record in league play and have improved to 14-8-2 overall on the season; the Warriors have been battling illness throughout the past week, with several players suiting up at less than 100% and turning in solid performances to help their teammates compete for victory.