U16 Warriors split pair of games on the road.
The Warriors took on the St. Thomas Jr. Stars at Joe
Thornton Community Center on Saturday, January 21.
First period action was even throughout, both teams struggling to find a shooting lane and connect on breakouts. St. Thomas would open the scoring late, sliding one past netminder Brody Borszcz.
The Warrior forecheck kept the home team frustrated in the second. D-Men Blake Hodsgon and Austin Musselman held their ground and pushed pucks to the boards on a pair of odd man rushes. Stratford found themselves in the box for the bulk of the period and couldn’t muster much offensively. 1-0 St. Thomas after two periods. The Stars would go up 2-0 on a power play goal early in the third. Stratford finally got on the board on a PP goal of their own with Ryan McGee sneaking backdoor to pot the pass from Carter Petrie and Rylan Hall. A few late chances saw the Warriors come close to evening it up, but a couple late penalties all but extinguished their hopes. Final Score – St. Thomas 2, Stratford 1.
Sunday afternoon the team was on the road again in Brantford at the Civic Center. The 99ers opened the scoring 5 minutes into the game, sliding one past keeper Henry Tuer. Rylan Hall (A-Dawson White, Blake Hodgson) would answer late to end the first even at 1 goal apiece. Stratford found their stride in the second period and never looked back. Ryan Gansevles tipped in a shot from Blair Stokes (A-Carter Petrie) to make it 2-1. Rylan Hall notched his second of the game pouncing on his own rebound to make it 3-1 Warriors (A-Gansevles, McGee). Carter Petrie caught the Brantford back line napping and stole a pass and walked in alone to make it 4-1 Stratford. Petrie struck again late in the period, jumping on a rebound of a Gansevles shot that sat in the crease, 5-1 Stratford after 2. Brantford came out strong in the third and pushed their second of the game past the line to narrow the Stratford lead to 5-2. That’s as close as they would get as the Stratford offence wasn’t finished just yet. Shorthanded, Colin Shultz stole a pass and fired it at the net, Griffin McGregor knocked it home to make it 6-2. Ryan McGee rifled one to the back of the net off a pass from Gansevles – 7-2 Stratford. Blair Stokes took a pass from Blake Hodgson on the PP and sent it bar down to make it 8-2. Another late power play goal from a nifty pass play – McGee to Gansevles to Colin Schultz for the goal. Final score – Stratford 9, Brantford 2.