Mathieson reflects on the U18 Warriors season

Just days after the heartbreaking end to their season, the Stratford U18 AA Warriors held their final practice of the year at the Stratford Rotary Complex on March 11. The session was more about having fun and relaxing after their defeat, as they took part in a scrimmage.

In an interview with the Times, head coach Riley Mathieson reflected on the loss in Game 5, noting that the team exhibited pride and competitiveness in the season-ending match.

“Yeah, there was some disappointment on the weekend, for sure, but there was also some pride as well. We could have rolled over after that game Thursday night, when we didn't perform well at home. It had to go down to London the next night, win there, then come back to win at home to end out the season. And we played well, one of our, probably our best game of the year down there on Friday night. … And, you know, it's Game 5 winner-take-all, similar to Game 7. … It was a high-tension game, and a lot of emotion from both teams. At the end of the day, we battled hard right through the third period,” Mathieson said.

“We came out down three, and we put two up within the first ten minutes, and we battled hard to get that tying goal right to the end. Unfortunately, we fell short. But I told the guys before the game, and before the third period was to go out there, and regardless of how the score turns out, be sure that when you come back in, you know you have the satisfaction of knowing that you did everything that you could. I have all the faith there that every, every single player, knows that they left it all out on the ice there on Sunday. It just didn't go our way.”

The Warriors finished the regular season in eighth place in the ALLIANCE U18 AA-A League with a 6-17-4 record. The season's biggest highlight was winning the Ajax Winterlude Tournament in December.

Despite challenges, Mathieson was very satisfied with the team's growth and looks forward to developing the program further next season.

“It could have been a bit of a different outcome had it not been for a couple of bounces there. But at the end of the day, we played well. There's a lot to be proud of, a lot that we can look back on. Having seen how things went, we can definitely look at how we could have improved things in the moment. But I mean, that's just life in general. So yeah, I'm proud of how things went and of how the guys battled right to the end,” Mathieson said.

“Would it have been nice to come out on top and get to the final series and maybe make a run at another OHF or another Alliance championship? Yeah, absolutely. But we knew the road all year long was going to have to go through, through London, and I think in the last week and a half, we played our best hockey against them, as we did compared to the rest of the year. So there's a lot to be proud of, and a lot to learn from and build on as well.”