Kipfer made OHL debut, Warriors sail past Welland and outlast the Corvairs in cross-conference play

The Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors played two cross-conference games last weekend, hosting the Welland Jr. Canadians and travelling to Caledonia for a matchup with the Corvairs.

Quinn Kipfer made his Ontario Hockey League debut with the North Bay Battalion against the Sarnia Sting on Nov.9. Kipfer said to the Times he enjoyed the opportunity to play his first OHL game.

"It was exciting and really cool to finally get my debut. I got to spend the weekend with them (Battalion), and I made my debut; they just made me feel comfortable, and I was able to jump in and play my game," Kipfer said.

When asked about the pace comparison between the two leagues, Kipfer added that the OHL's pace is more aggressive than the GOHL's style of play.

"OHL is a faster pace. I think more of a skilled game than in the junior B loop," Kipfer said.

"It's a bit tougher, a bit more of a grind, harder style of play, where in the OHL, every guy can make a play, and it's a little more skilled and faster to make those decisions."

Goaltender Noah Bender has been a solid acquisition for the Warriors. The 18-year-old native of Waterloo has a 6-2-0-1 record in nine starts, with a 2.17 goals-against average (GAA) and .926 save percentage (SV%), both of which are in the top ten of the league's qualified goaltending categories.

When it comes to Bender, the focus is not to be ahead and have a short memory, while allowing the Warriors to win every time.

"My mindset whenever I'm in that is always just staying in the moment, not focusing on past or future, just focusing on stopping the next shot," Bender said.

At press time, the Warriors entered the weekend with the seventh-best record in the Western Conference, tied with the sixth-ranked Waterloo Siskins, both with nine wins. Despite playing the fewest games in the GOHL, the Warriors ranked seventh-worst overall with 52 goals scored and ninth out of the 12 teams in the Western Conference.

In preparation for the weekend's games, head coach Dave Williams says the team needs to get into the habit of winning the games and stay aggressive when generating scoring opportunities.

"We just want to try and build some momentum. I mean, we're able to win two games on the weekend, and with the parity in the league, this seems like we need to try and put some streaks together, no matter how long. But you need to try to put some wins together. So, keep focusing on what we're trying to do," Williams said.

"We're still struggling a little bit to score goals offensively. I keep reminding the guys to shoot pucks in good areas. Get selfish when they have the puck in good areas, making sure we're finding ways to the net. It's a simple recipe."

Assistant captains Joseph Curtin and Rhyse Brown say the focus is to build on the wins from last weekend and put together a lengthy streak.

"We know it's a big weekend; we've got to start building on these wins. We can't keep splitting weekends. We got to add some wins together, so it keeps this streak going," Curtin said.

"I think we just got to come up with the same energy that we came out with last weekend. Play hard for all 60 minutes in both Welland and Caledonia, and results come our way if we play how we played," Brown said.

On Nov. 14 against the Welland Jr. Canadians, the Warriors hosted their annual Hat, Mitt and Scarf Toss game, with all items collected in the rink following the Warriors' first goal going to the Stratford Connection Centre.

After Welland struck first at 11:32 of the first period, the goal from Dominic Marshall with 3:17 left put the Warriors on the board, and the fans tossed their donations onto the ice for collection.

The score remained at 1-1 until the game turned into a goal-scoring frenzy in the second period. It began when Jr. Canadians retook the lead with an early goal in the early stage of the middle frame. Goals from Grady Murphy and Colin Slattery gave the Warriors their first lead of the game, but the visitors tied the game at three at the midway mark of the period.

Lucas Minard joined the goal-scoring downpour with two goals in 34 seconds to give the home side the lead for good. Jack McGurn ended his month-long scoring draught with 54 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a cushioned 6-3 lead heading into the third period.

Welland drew one closer 1:39 into the final frame, but Stratford pulled away late with Minard's first career GOHL hat trick, and Rhyse Brown scored his second straight game with a goal. Goaltender Gage Hurst had a shaky fourth career GOHL start but stopped twelve of sixteen Welland shots for his third win of the season.

Marshall spoke to the Times after the game about the special goal. "Pretty good. It's a lot of energy in the air, and obviously things are flying, so you feel good," Marshall said. "You always want to score a goal like that when you're a kid. It's an awesome goal to score."

Minard credited his linemates, who were fundamental in his performance.

"Yeah, I thought my linemates had a huge deal about that. Schmitty (Jonas Schmidt) and Dax (Vader) both played great. Just happened to find the net three times," Minard said.

Williams was pleased with the team's goal-scoring output but knows they need to clean up the miscues.

"The positive for me is we scored eight goals. We've been struggling a little bit. Hopefully, we'll gain some confidence from putting some of those pucks in the net. But I thought we were a little sloppy at times with the puck," Williams said.

"We could have managed the puck a lot better. The positive is scoring some goals, thinking something that we've chatted a lot about and have struggled to do, but don't like to give up on either."

The Warriors travelled to Caledonia on Nov. 16 for an evening matchup with the Corvairs at the Haldimand County Caledonia Centre.

Caledonia got on the board first in the opening period, but Kipfer responded for the Warriors at the 8:09 mark of the second period. From the second period onward, the Warriors controlled the game with solid defence and clutch goaltending by Bender, as well as timely goal scoring.

Minard notched his fourth goal of the weekend, 12th of the season, early in the third period as Stratford led 2-1.

The second goal by Kipfer with 33 seconds left sealed the game and secured the Warriors' fourth straight win.

Team captain Haden Frayne was pleased with the team's performance.

"Yeah, it was definitely a fast game, a heavy game. I thought we did a great job all night, on closing fast, on them, taking away all their time and space," Frayne said. "They were hitting hard, but we brought the intensity right back. It was a great game from all of us."

For Williams, the team grinded through to pick up a win in a challenging arena.

"Yeah, it's always tough to come. You don't have to play back-to-back, especially when you're coming and playing a team that didn't play the night before, but I thought we kind of stuck with it. Would have been nice to have scored a few more goals in there, but it wasn't for a lack of trying, especially in the second period," Williams said.

"I think we probably should have found the back of that a few more times and might have made the night a little bit easier for us, but nothing wrong with having to play right to the final buzzer and kind of grind away to find a way."

Next up for the Warriors is the first multi-game homestand of the season. The St. Thomas Stars come to town for the first time this season on Nov. 21, and the Strathroy Rockets face the Warriors for the first time this season in a late-matinée matchup on Nov. 23.