Aces begin their postseason journey

The Stratford Humphrey Fleet Service U18 AA Aces faced the Saugeen Maitland Lightning in the opening round of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA)-Southern Tier II Championship playoffs, and the start of the best-of-three OWHA Playdowns.

On Feb. 19, Stratford secured game one of the best-of-three series with a 2-0 victory over the Lightning at the Howick Community Centre in Gorrie. Two days later, on Feb. 20, the Aces aimed to move on to the second round in front of their home crowd at the Stratford Rotary Complex.

Brooklynn Ahrens put the Aces on the scoreboard first with a powerplay goal at 5:06 in the first period. The score stayed 1-0 until late in the third period, when Skylar Macey sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 1:48 remaining.

The Aces maintained their lead thanks to strong defence and excellent goaltending from Callie Aldridge, securing the series with a 2-0 victory. With the series sweep, the Aces have won seven of their last eight games dating back to the end of the regular season.

After the game, Aces head coach Sean Cameron highlighted the significance of teamwork in securing the series-clinching victory.

“Today, there were three things that happened: team, team and team. That was an effort from all 17 girls today. I'm so proud of them. That's two playoff games against a very tough team, and to shut them out. Both times, our goaltending has been fantastic,” Cameron said.

“We were just talking in a dressing room, how since Christmas, we've just come together as a group, and you know, why not us? That's what we believe, and the girls are believing in everything we do, and it's been shown on the ice.”

Aldridge says she’s glad the team secured the series victory against a tough opponent.

“It feels good to get the win tonight. It means we always want to beat them as much as we can, and it feels good to get those two wins in a row, and we're advancing,” Aldridge said.

Stratford will face the Kitchener Jr. Lady Rangers in the next round of the OWHA-Southern playoffs. Stratford will travel to Kitchener for game one on Feb. 26, and host game two at the Rotary Complex Rink A on March 2.

This won't be the final encounter of the year between the two teams. Both Stratford and Saugeen Maitland will also compete in the OWHA Playdowns, which serve as the qualifiers for the provincials. Both teams began their provincial tournament aspirations on Feb. 22.

To clarify the confusion between the playoff and playdown formats, Cameron explained their differences.

“The playoffs are for league play, like your traditional league play, and provincials for playdowns, that's to go to the big provincial tournament, where the province is broken down into areas, and each area sends either one, two or three representatives, and there's a big tournament at the end of the year,” Cameron said.

“It's what we focus on when we started practicing in Wellesley in August. We've talked about it since day one, and that's our focus: getting to the provincial tournament.”

The Aces travelled to the Teeswater Community Centre for the opener of the OWHA U18 AA Playdown series on Feb. 22, but dropped a 2-1 decision to the Lightning. The two teams meet again at the William Allman Memorial Arena for game two on Feb. 28.

Stratford Aces vs. Saugeen Maitland Lightning (OWHA-Southern Round 1 Series)

Game one: Aces 2 Lightning 0

Game two: Lightning 0 Aces 2

Stratford wins the series 2-0

Stratford Aces vs. Saugeen Maitland Lightning (OWHA Provincial Playdowns)

Game one: Aces 1 Lightning 2 (SML Leads 1-0)

Game two: Stratford Allman Arena (Feb. 28, 1:30 p.m.)

Game three: Mildmay Arena (Mar. 7 – 11:30 a.m., if necessary)

Stratford Aces vs. Kitchener Lady Rangers (OWHA-Southern Round 2 Series)

Game one: Stratford vs. Kitchener (Grand River Arena – Feb. 26, 8:30 p.m.)

Game two: Kitchener vs. Stratford (Rotary Complex Rink A – March 2, 7 p.m.)

Game three: Stratford vs. Kitchener (Grand River Arena – March 5, 8:30 p.m., if necessary)