Shorthanded Irish get clipped by Tilbury Bluebirds

Stratford Irish goaltender Zack Weir gloves the puck out of the air during the Irish’s game against the Tilbury Bluebirds on Nov. 29.

On a blustery Nov. 29, the Stratford Irish were looking to keep pace with the Alvinston Killer Bees as they hosted the Tilbury Bluebirds at the William Allman Memorial Arena.

The Irish opened the scoring as Ethan Salter notched his first goal with the Irish 67 seconds into the game from Christian Polillo and Cole Thiessen. Stratford's lead didn't hold up long, though, as the Bluebirds tied the game over a minute later and poured on two more before the end of the opening frame to lead 3-1 after 20 minutes.

Tilbury continued their onslaught with two more goals in the second period for a commanding 5-1 lead. Mathieu Henderson scored his second goal of the season late in the period from Ryan Migliaccio and Jake Silverr to give the Irish a glimmer of hope heading into the final period down 5-2.

The visitors brought their lead back to four goals over two minutes into the third period to lead 6-2. Stratford attempted to stage the comeback with two goals from Polillo to cut the deficit to two, but their efforts came up short as the Bluebirds scored an empty net goal in the closing seconds to win the game 7-4. With his three-point performance, Polillo has tallied nine points in the last six games. Goaltender Zachery Weir made 40 saves for the Irish in the loss.

The defeat marked the first time the Irish had lost in regulation since Oct. 24 against the Strathroy Jets and marked the end of their points streak with four games (3-0-1 in the streak).

Following the game, Polillo and Weir were disappointed with the team's effort, despite a valiant push in the final twenty minutes.   

“We were fighting back the whole game. We let in a few too early, and we're trying to claw our way back. If you let up on your goals too early in the game, it's tough to fight your way back, and that's what we saw tonight. We were short with bodies, so we gave it our best, but at the end of the day, we couldn't get it done," Polillo said.

“It was tough. We were short for the second week in a row, and you don't have your regulars, or it's mostly new guys, and everyone's still trying to figure out how to play, to get how to play together, so that can be tough,” Weir said.

“But I thought in the third we got it hard and showed a lot of fight there, and kind of almost got it back. It's good to see some fight at the end of the game, when we're short like that."

Next up for the Irish is the trip to Woodstock to face the Lakers on Dec. 5. Then, the Irish host the Teddy Bear Toss game as they face the conference-leading Alvinston Killer Bees at the Allman Arena on Dec. 6.