Warriors blazed past Stars and cool down Rockets on home ice
- Michael Willoughby
- 12 hours ago
- 5 min read
The level of optimism was very high for the Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors as they entered the week with a four-game winning streak and faced the St. Thomas Stars and the Strathroy Rockets on home ice.
Excluding the overtime loss to Waterloo back in the home opener on Sept. 19, the Warriors have been unbeatable at the William Allman Memorial Arena, with a record of 7-0-1-0.
Dax Vader and Drew Hodge say the team is feeling positive and was looking to play in front of the home fans.
"We've been doing well together. Chemistry keeps building, and it shows in our gameplay. Try to keep it going over the next few weeks," Vader said. “I think this is our first weekend. We got two home games, so we'll be pumped to play in front of one crowd twice in a row.”
“It feels good to win those four games. We've got to move our way up in the standings. Every game, every win counts right now, so we will take anything we can get," Hodge said.
“These fans are so awesome that every game you come here, you know that we're going to bring your best effort, and the crowd is going to get us in the game, and we just don't lose in our barn.”
Assistant captains Jonas Schmidt and Joseph Curtin echo their teammate’s statements about being at home.
“We have a great home record going so far. It's awesome to play in front of these fans in the city. We just got to keep bringing home some wins,” Curtin said.
“Obviously, home games are more fun. We love playing in front of the Stratford fans. For me, I like a little more time, a little more time to grade for the game, so it's nice to be at home,” Schmidt said.
Head coach Dave Williams says having a homestand at the Allman is an excellent way for the team to play their best hockey.
“It's always great to play in Stratford. We remind our guys all the time. We think we see everybody's best games in Stratford, such a special arena to come and play with its tradition and history,” Williams said.
On Nov. 21, the Warriors opened their first of two home games against the St. Thomas Stars.
The Stars scored first at the midway mark of the first period, but the Warriors countered with three unanswered goals by Quinn Kipfer, Will Coward (first in the GOHL) and Drew Hodge in the final half of the opening frame to take a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Midway through the second period, St. Thomas used their offensive might to reclaim their lead as they scored three unanswered goals of their own in under three minutes. But the Warriors regained the momentum and took control of the game when Jack McGurn scored his fifth goal 11 seconds after the Stars' goal to tie the game. It was followed by Curtin's first of the year and a late-period marker from Schmidt's sixth of the year to give the Warriors a 6-4 lead heading into the final period.
Fifty-one seconds into the period, Schmidt scored his second goal of the game, seventh of the season, to increase the Stratford lead to 7-4. St. Thomas added a late goal with under two minutes left, but the Warriors prevailed 7-5 to extend their win streak at home to eight straight, five straight overall.
Schmidt led the Warriors with four points. Schmidt said it was a matter of taking care of business by sticking to the game strategy.
“It was just about sticking to our game plan and doing all we practice throughout the week, and we know if we do that well, that will get the two points,” Schmidt said.
Coward was glad he scored his first GOHL goal, and he got the critical win despite the defensive miscues.
“It feels pretty good to get my first in the GOHL. Just a good dish from Fogger (Max Wildfong) there and traffic at the net," Coward said.
“It was good to pick up the two points tonight. They're a good, quick, fast team, and we'll give it to them. We had a couple lapses there in the second period, but we can’t sleep on defence. But we'll take a look at some video tomorrow and clean it up."
Despite the miscues, Williams says he found encouraging signs from the offence in consecutive home games.
“I feel like the game was broken into some different pieces. I liked how we were playing there when we had that lead, and it quickly evaporated, and then we got back after it again and got the lead again. There are some things in there I think we can clean up defensively, mistakes that we're making on our own, not necessarily mistakes that they're forcing us into place," Williams said.
“I guess the positive really is again, seven goals, considering that we felt like we were maybe gripping the sticks a little bit earlier in the year. So we had back-to-back Fridays where we scored, you know, eight and seven goals. Hopefully, that gives us a little confidence in pushing through."
In front of a large crowd, the Warriors played their second game of the homestand against the Strathroy Rockets.
Curtin scored his second goal of the season, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes, but the Rockets responded in the second period at the 6:12 mark to tie the game. A laser of a goal from Wildfong put the Warriors back in the lead, only for the visitors to tie the game midway through regulation. Despite the Warriors' offensive pressure for most of the game, the game remained tied at 2-2 through 60 minutes and went to overtime.
In overtime, Wildfong sent the home crowd into a frenzy as he outmuscled the Strathroy defender and buried home the game winner to give the Warriors their ninth consecutive win at home ice, sixth straight overall.
Schmidt extended his point streak to seven games with the assist on Wildfong’s overtime winner. The veteran forward has 12 points during the streak. With three more points in the two-game weekend, Wildfong has six points in the last six games.
The first year forward was elated with the game-winning goal in the extra frame.
“That was such a great game by us. We battled every shift. This was my first-ever overtime goal. It was exciting,” Wildfong said. “It's just a great pass, great play by Callie (Coward), and great draw win by Schmitty (Schmidt). Just scoring that goal means a ton. Got to celebrate it all with the guys. It's very fun.”
Goaltender Gage Hurst bounced back from his tough performance against Welland to extend his record to 4-0-0-1. Hurst commended his teammates on the defensive performance against the Rockets.
“I think it was all about playing simply and applying what I was doing in practice and games. Overall, I thought I played well,” Hurst said. “The guys obviously played great in front of me and made my job easier.”
Williams liked what the team did with the offensive strategy, despite the good performance by Strathroy goaltender Mason Costa.
“I thought it was a good hockey game here this afternoon. Thought we did a lot of things territorially. I thought we spent a lot of time on their half of the ice. We struggled to find the back of the net,” Williams said.
“I think we probably hit three or four cross bars and thought their (Rockets) goaltender played exceptionally well, gave them a chance to win. So, I think it was an exciting Sunday afternoon for our guys.”
The Warriors will conclude their homestand by honouring first responders from Stratford and area on Nov. 28 against the Waterloo Siskins. Then they travel to Pelham for their cross-conference road matchup with the Panthers on Nov. 30.