U15 Warriors battled hard but fall just short of 5th consecutive Silver Stick Finals., News, U15, U14-U15 (Bantam), 2021-2022 (Stratford Minor Hockey Association)

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This Team is part of the 2021-2022 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Nov 09, 2021 | Scott Siebert | 429 views
U15 Warriors battled hard but fall just short of 5th consecutive Silver Stick Finals.
The Warriors started pool play in the Stratford Regional Silver Stick in Stonetown Friday morning vs. Alliance rival Kitchener.  

The Rangers came out determined and gritty taking every opportunity to check and knock the Warriors off their game.  End to end action in the first period saw few shots for each team and ended with neither team able to score.  The second saw the Warriors dominate the offensive zone for most of the period but couldn’t light the lamp.  An intense power play by the Warriors had the Kitchener netminder in a frenzy but wouldn’t let one past.  The Rangers took advantage of some favorable bounces and a power play scoring twice in the frame that ended 2-0 in favor of Kitchener.   The third period saw more of the same tough checking game from the Rangers in another dominant offensive period from the Warriors.  The battered and bruised Stratford players just couldn’t slide one past the line.  Final 2-0 Kitchener.

The second game saw the Warriors face off against the West Niagara Flying Aces at the Allman Arena in Stratford.  Grady Murphy snatched up a puck in the neutral zone early in the period and ripped the first shot of the game past the Aces netminder to open the scoring.  A few key blocked shots from Blair Stokes, Austin Musselman and Dawson White kept pucks clear of netminder Adeel Kara to keep the score 1-0 Warriors after the first period.  Griffin McGregor took a pass from Ryan Gansevles and sniped one past the line from a tough angle low on the left side to put the home team up 2-0.  Another bouncing puck ended up on a Niagara stick to give them an odd man rush and push one through to cut the lead to 2-1 after the second.  The third stared with a Stratford power play and some quick passing and hustle from both the first and second units but couldn’t put up another goal to pad the lead.  Some great late game PK work from Liam Ollson and Rylan Hall and some key saves from Kara kept the Aces from tying it up late and Stratford came away with the 2-1 win.

Early Saturday afternoon saw the Warriors back at the Allman taking on the Milton Winterhawks.  Tight checking kept the action in the offensive zones to a minimum however Milton managed to open the scoring in the first to take an early 1-0 lead.  An early power play in the second period got the Warriors on the board with Colin Schultz and Blair Stokes moving the puck to McGregor who put it home and tied the game at 1-1.  The puck stayed in the Milton zone for most of the second period but the Warriors couldn’t add another marker until early in the third when Nathan Siebert intercepted a cycle behind the Milton net and put it on Ryan McGee’s stick out front to bury it and take a 2-1 lead.  Some relentless forechecking by the Winterhawks led to the game tying goal late in the period.  A few rushes late in the frame were turned away by Kara and the Hawks netminder and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

The final game of pool play pitted the Warriors against the Glancaster Bombers and proved to be a game of three distinctly different periods.  The Warriors came out flying and posted their best all-around period of the season to date and tallied three goals in the process.  Two goals by McGregor (Gansevles assist on the first, Ben Medhust on the second) and one by Colin Schultz (Gansevles and McGregor) put the Warriors on top 3-0 as the first buzzer sounded.  The Bombers refueled and reloaded to start the second, pressing and checking at every opportunity keeping the Warriors on their heels.  They took advantage of their minimal chances in the period and scored 4 unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead into the final period.  Ryan McGill entered the game for Kara in the third and he was tested early, turning away the Bombers twice on odd man rushes.  Stratford rang a few posts early but just couldn’t find the back of the net.  With the goalie pulled the Warriors pressed for the tying goal and it would come of the stick of Captain Ryan Gansevles (C. Schultz and McGregor) on a rocket from the point to send the home crowd into a phrenzy.   The game ended in a 4-4 tie earning the Stratford team a much-needed point that would prove critical in securing their birth to the semifinals in a tight U15 bracket.

Sunday the Warriors once again came toe to toe with the Milton Winterhawks in the Semifinals, Glancaster earning the bye to the Final game.  The first period saw lots of end to end action and some key defensive plays from Zach Schultz and Ellis Schnurr.  The Hawks D kept our forwards in check as well and the first period ended scoreless.  The second period swung to the Milton side as they capitalized on their chances and broke out to a quick 2-0 lead that would stand until the third period.  The Warriors came out firing in the third and completely dominated the play in the Milton zone.  Posts were rung and the Hawks netminder was kept busy the entire period.  A late breakaway goal from McGregor got the Allman goal horn fired up and the crowd along with it.  Late pressure by the Warriors just wasn’t enough and they fell just short, breaking their perfect streak of Stratford Silver Stick Finals appearances. 

Milton fell to Glancaster 4-0 in the final.

 

Next Action – Waterloo Memorial Tournament – November 12-14, 2021.