Irish flew past Bluebirds, Cavaliere earns first career NPHL shutout

The Stratford Irish headed back to the win column after shutting out the Tilbury Bluebirds 5-0 at the William Allman Memorial Arena on Jan. 24.

After a scoreless first 15-plus minutes of play, the Irish managed to break through when Jaden Peca scored his fifth of the season from Sean O’Brien and Zach Magwood with 4:11 remaining in the second period.

Stratford doubled their lead with 98 seconds remaining as Magwood notched his sixth of the season from Christian Polillo and Matthew Fuller to make it 2-0. The Irish increased their lead with 18 seconds left in the middle frame as Peca scored his second of the game from Matthew Montgomery and Brett Thorne.

The Irish pattered their lead at the 3:51 mark when Brendan Charlton scored his fourth as a member of the Irish from Thomas Hernandez and Calvin Thomson and added one more midway through the period, as Matt Zebedee scored his third with the Irish from Magwood and Ethan Salter.

Irish netminder Mario Cavaliere picked up his first shutout in his NPHL career and recorded his third win between the pipes for Stratford. Cavaliere says it feels good to get a shutout and an important win for the Irish.

“It's exciting. We have a great team. We have so many guys who have played in some of the most amazing places. So, to help contribute to a high-caliber team, it's special. I'm looking forward to the playoff run to go on,” Cavaliere said.

Magwood says the win is good and the team is playing with a fresh mindset in preparation for the playoffs as the regular season reaches its conclusion in two weeks.

“I think just focus on having that playoff mentality going into it. We got two games left, so if we can transition now, and scrape out a couple wins here too, with the last two games, I think we're looking good going into playoffs,” Magwood said.

“I think it's going to start to turn around here. I think we're going to put up a good fight.”

Like Magwood, Peca states the team’s mindset for the next two weeks en route to the postseason.

“Just for our team, it's just sticking to what our game plan is and just building on that and sharing the same momentum that we've gained here tonight, into next weekend, then the weekend after that, and ready for the playoffs,” Peca said.

“I think our team is already focused and ready to dial in and buy into the system that the coaches are providing.”

Stratford is playing their final home game of the regular season on Jan. 31 against the Woodstock Lakers at the Allman Arena. Game time is 5:30 p.m.