U16 Warriors earn a split to start the season

By: Michael Willoughby

The Stratford U16 AA Warriors kicked off their ALLIANCE regular-season schedule with a split outcome last weekend.

Before team practice on Sept. 29, head coach Jamie Morris spoke to the Times about the team’s aspirations for the upcoming season after a productive preseason.

“We should be good. We battled hard for the first, you know, our first four games. Just some tough teams, so it's hard to tell so far what they'll be like, you know, going into the season, once we get into teams in our regular league, but yeah, I like the way we're looking right now,” Morris said.

“There's a bunch of new kids this year. Probably a third of the team's new. So yeah, just getting to know where everybody plays and what they do and the things they're good at … trying to work that into the existing guys there.”

Stratford opened the season on the road against the Cambridge Hawks at the Preston Auditorium on Oct. 3.

The Warriors scored first 1:14 into the game and extended their lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal with 3:20 remaining in the first period. In the second period, Stratford increased their lead to 3-0, but Cambridge rallied, scoring twice in the last 8:17 of the middle frame to narrow the gap.

Stratford built a two-goal lead early in the third period, but the Hawks narrowed the gap to one goal midway through. The visitors sealed the win with under six minutes on the clock, finishing the season opener at 5-3.

The next day, the Warriors played their home opener at the William Allman Memorial Arena against the Kitchener Jr. Rangers Red.

Kitchener jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Warriors responded with a goal late in the first period, cutting the deficit in half heading into the second period.

The Rangers ultimately put the game away with two late goals in the middle frame. Despite an early third-period goal, the Warriors suffered their first loss in a 4-2 defeat.

Despite the loss, Morris says the team played well despite the mixed results on opening weekend.

“I thought we played pretty hard both games. Boys worked hard, working on a lot of things that we're talking to them about. Today's result maybe wasn't indicative of the way we played. Seemed like any mistake we made ended up in our net. Had some chances that didn't go in, but yeah, both games we played really well,” Morris said.

Team captain Liam Kelly feels honoured to wear the captaincy and states he aims to be communicative, expecting the team to remain competitive this season.

“Oh, it's a great feeling to be a part of this community and just to be part of the boys. It feels like family,” Kelly said.

“The kind of leadership I want to bring to this team is vocal and talking to the boys and just leadership all night, showing the voice. I think the expectation is we'll go out there and try our best. We'll work hard, and we'll win some games.”

Next for the U16 Warriors is an away game at St. Thomas against the Jr. Stars on Oct. 10. Following that, they start their two-week, four-game homestand at Allman Arena with a match against the Cambridge Hawks on Oct. 11.