Stratford Irish bolsters roster and beat Six Nations Ironmen

Before facing the Six Nations Ironmen on Nov. 22, the Stratford Irish made a series of transactions in a span of 48 hours.

Between Nov. 20 and 21, the team acquired Jeff Silver, Ben Sawyer, Ethan Nother, Adrian Nabuurs, Ethan Salter, Brendan Charlton, Mateo Cabral and Daniel Di Cristofaro via free agency and trade.

Four of the eight new players – Salter, Sawyer, Charlton and Cabral – spoke to the Times and shared their first impressions of the team and the city.

“Oh, it's great. I love Stratford for the coziness in the summertime. It's a great town to be a part of, and it's good to be here,” said Cabral. “I was in Halton Hills before, so coming over for my first game today, I could already feel the passion in the arena from the fans, and how good the team is, so it's good to be a part of.”

“It's truly incredible,” Sawyer said. “… The Stratford experience was just incredible. You have the stands filled with people who love hockey and want to come out and have a good time. Playing here is incredible."

“It's great. It's an exciting environment. Obviously, the fans are great, and it gets nice and noisy and loud when we do something out there, whether it's a big play, a big goal or a big shot on net or something, someone blocking a shot, we have the city behind us here," Charlton said.

“It's a very professionally run program. Everyone has bought into the systems and everyone's here to win and work hard, and that's what I'm here to do, to work hard and help the team win wherever I can,” Salter said.

The four men, along with Silver and Di Cristofaro, made their debuts against the Ironmen and played key roles in the 5-2 win.

In the early stage of the first period, the Irish set a strong offensive tempo and were rewarded with two goals in under two minutes from the debuting Silver and Ray Robbins. The Irish increased their lead on a breakaway goal from Cabral midway through the second period. Six Nations scored a late goal in the middle frame, only for Stratford to respond on a powerplay goal from Thomas Hernandez, his second of the season, with 27 seconds left and restored a three-goal lead.

Six Nations cut down the deficit to 4-2 with less than five minutes remaining, but Cabral scored his second of the game with six minutes remaining to ice the game for the Irish. The Irish improved their season record to 6-2-1, their third straight win, and have picked up seven of the possible eight points in the last four games.

Next up for the Irish is a matchup with the last-place Tilbury Bluebirds on Nov. 29 at the William Allman Arena.