Irish get throttled by Jets and drop a heartbreaker to Killer Bees

Leading up to games against the Strathroy Jets and the Alvinston Killer Bees, two of the Stratford Irish’s rivals, owner and head coach Marco Alexander shared his thoughts with the Times for the two games ahead.

"We've got some guys that got some bumps and bruises, so we're going to have to try and figure a way to try and squeak one out on Friday night. It's great to be home on Saturday. Saturday night versus Alvinston, they're a powerhouse team, a very good team. It's an unbelievable rivalry," Alexander said.

"Every time they come to our barn, it's a tough game, and every time we go to their barn, it's a tough game. We're really looking forward to getting home on Saturday and squeaking out a win."

The undermanned Irish travelled to Strathroy for an evening matchup with the Jets on Oct. 24.

Strathroy jumped to a 4-0 lead with a pair of goals in the first and second periods. Stratford's starting goaltender, Marek Pavlas, was relieved for Zachery Weir after the fourth Strathroy goal. Jaden Peca scored his first of the season to put the Irish on the board with less than six minutes remaining in the second before the Jets responded with a power-play goal over ninety seconds later.

Thomas Maia scored his second of the season before the end of the middle frame to give Stratford some life heading into the third. Matthew Fuller scored his second of the season to cut the deficit to 5-3, but the Jets sealed the win with 57 seconds left on an empty net goal. Maia led the Irish with two points in the game, while Pavlas got credited for the loss as he allowed four goals in sixteen shots in over 22 minutes of play before being pulled for Weir, who made sixteen saves in relief.

On Oct. 25, the Irish hosted the Alvinston Killer Bees in a battle for first place in the Northern Premier Hockey League (NPHL) Gateway Division of the Metropolitan Conference at the William Allman Memorial Arena.

Stratford got off to a strong start with the goals from Luca Marandola and Montgomery just 41 seconds later in the first period. Alvinston got one on the board with 3:45 left, but Peca responded with two seconds left to close the opening twenty minutes with a 3-1 Irish lead.

A two-on-one pass from Matthew Barnes to Brady Hunter gave the Irish a commanding 4-1 lead midway through the second period.

But the turning point of the game came several minutes later, as the Irish got into penalty trouble, resulting in three straight penalties in under a minute and consecutive five-on-three penalty kills. The Killer Bees seized the opportunity and scored twice with the man-advantage on three attempts and climbed to within a goal heading into the third period.

Alvinston tied the game with 13:58 remaining in the third period and took the lead for the first time with 6:55 left. But the Irish refused to go down and were on the six-on-four power-play with 48 seconds in regulation. With twenty seconds left, Stephen Pierog sent the Irish fans at the Allman Arena into a frenzy and sent the game to overtime and assured the home side at least a point.

In overtime, the Alvinston Killer Bees scored the winner with 5:15 remaining and escaped the arena with the additional point to keep their undefeated record intact.

After the game, both Marandola and Weir shared their thoughts on the disappointing result.

"We played our game. We were buzzing, had the lead, and did our job. We played a good, hard game tonight. We got to the right areas, and we just had an unfortunate result," Marandola said. "But we can't beat ourselves up. Still played a good game."

"I think the team played well against Alvinston. They're a really good team, and we came out strong and unfortunately, just a weird second period with some calls that didn't go our way, led to us being down a man for quite a bit and opened the door for them, but I thought we still came back to tie," Weir said. "It was awesome. The boys fly hard tonight."

This week, the Irish play their lone game of the weekend at home ice on Nov. 1 against the Orangeville Blitz at the Allman Arena. Game time is 5:30 p.m.