U18 Warriors overcame the odds to win Ajax Winterlude Tournament

Stratford U18 Warriors won the Ajax Winterlude Tournament on Dec. 14.

The Stratford U18 Warriors participated in the U18 AA Winterlude Tournament in Ajax from Dec.11 through Dec. 15.

During round-robin play, Stratford was placed in the Fisherman’s Bay group and played Clarington, Aurora, top-ranked Milton and host Ajax-Pickering.

On Dec. 12, the Warriors began their tournament play in a 4-2 loss to the Clarington Toros in the early afternoon game but finished their first day with a 3-2 win over the Aurora Tigers in their evening matchup.

The Warriors faced a stiff test in the Milton Jr. Menace in their matinée game but lost 2-0. They then lost their last game of the round robin to the host Ajax-Pickering Raiders 3-1 in the evening game. After two days of round robin, the Warriors qualified via tiebreaker over the fifth-place Orangeville Flyers with a record of 1-3-0.

On championship day on Dec. 14, the Warriors upset Milton 2-1 in the semis, and later on the day, U18 Warriors captain Owen Blain scored the winning goal in the shootout to win the Fisherman’s Bay Division Championship at the Ajax Winterlude Tournament on Dec. 14.

Stratford head coach Riley Mathieson said he is very proud of the team winning the championship and is hopeful this is a turnaround the team needs as the season progresses.

“It was a really good experience … and I think what will be a great turning point in the season for us. We've had a tough schedule up until this point, as well as facing some tough opponents and in multiple game weekends, and we were showing signs of improvement, and we're just waiting for the results to finally come through,” Mathieson said.

“I think this weekend was just to validate everything else that we already knew about the group we had. We are a good hockey team; you know, we can be competitive against anyone, but it just took some results to finally go our way. So, we had something to show for it, and I think that's what you saw this weekend. I'm not surprised that we had success this weekend, by any means, because as a coach I spend a lot of time with them. I could see what they were capable of.”

The Warriors resumed ALLIANCE regular season play on Dec. 18 against the Kitchener Jr. Rangers, Sarnia Jr. Sting on Dec. 20, and Dec. 21 against the Cambridge Hawks.