U18 Warriors earn a split in the final weekend of October

By: Michael Willoughby

The Stratford U18 AA Warriors are off to a promising start, standing in fourth place with a 3-3 record through six games of the 2026-2027 ALLIANCE U18 AA-A regular season.

Head coach Riley Mathieson says the team is progressing better than they were last season and looks forward to the weekend challenge, starting with the home-ice encounter with the first-place London Jr. Knights.

“It’s been a lot of fun so far. We are putting up a lot of points and scoring a lot of goals right now, which is a big change from last year. It's obviously showing in some of the results we've had,” Mathieson said.

“I thought the first couple of games of the regular season we could have done a little better, but we seem to have picked it up as of late. And last weekend was a great, great team win against Kitchener, and I hope that continues this weekend.”

Veteran Nate Van Bakel is in his final year with the organization. He likes what he’s seen from the roster’s young talent so far and recognizes the group's potential this season.

“Yeah, it was great this year. We brought in a lot of new young talent, and we're ready to go this year. And to finish off my last year of minor hockey with a bunch of the boys that I started with, it's special, and we're ready to get going here in the season,” Van Bakel said.

“I think to have a good run in the playoffs here, and finish pretty high up here in the regular season as well.”

On Oct. 31, the Warriors hosted the top-ranked London Jr. Knights Green at the Stratford Rotary Complex.

London got to a 2-0 lead in a span of 66 seconds in the latter half of the first period before Stratford responded with 3:04 left in the opening frame. The Jr. Knights restored their two-goal lead 18 seconds after the Warriors' goal, taking a 3-1 lead heading into the second period.

The Warriors scored the lone goal of the second period at the 2:05 mark, cutting the deficit to 3-2. But London pulled away in the third period with four unanswered goals, resulting in a 7-2 loss for Stratford.

The following day at the Galt Arena, the Warriors faced the Cambridge Hawks.

Cambridge broke the deadlock in the second period, only for the Warriors to score three goals in the final 11 minutes of the third period, winning 3-1. With the win, the Warriors are in a three-way tie for fourth place in the U18 AA-A ALLIANCE league standings with a 4-4 record and eight points.

Next, the U18 Warriors will compete in the annual Jack McNaughton Silverstick. The regional qualifier for the International Silverstick, featuring both the U18 and U16 Warriors, runs Nov. 6-8 at William Allman Memorial Arena and the Rotary Complex.