Warriors dethrone the Maroons, Williams wins Coach of the Year

In this GOHL Western Conference Semifinal series, everyone expected a close contest after the first three games, but no one could foresee the final outcome or how it would develop.

After all was said and done, a new Sutherland Cup Champion will be crowned as the Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors advanced to the Western Conference finals after defeating the reigning Sutherland Cup Champion Chatham Maroons in five games.

Before the series resumed, the GOHL announced that Warriors head coach Dave Williams received the Kernsy Memorial Award for Coach of the Year in the Western Conference on March 31.

Williams describes the experience of winning the award as humbling and attributes it to the hard work and effort of the players, staff and hockey operations team.

“It’s a humbling experience to win it. I think it's a true reflection of the hard work and effort of our players, our staff and our hockey operations for 50 games. So (I’m) just a small part of it, but you know, very proud to have won it. There are a lot of good coaches in our league,” Williams said.

With the Warriors winning Game 2 on March 30, they looked to take the series lead as they travelled to the Chatham Memorial Arena for Game 3.

Trevor Zanutto opened the scoring for Chatham at 3:40 into the first period. Then, within 28 seconds at the midway point of the period, the Warriors took the lead with goals by Jonas Schmidt from Drew Hodge and Coen Galbraith from Jaxon Broda.

Ian Lachance tied the game for Chatham at 5:22 in the second period, and the Maroons regained the lead on a double-minor power play 58 seconds into the third period with a goal by Santiago Jimenes.

With 1:48 remaining in regulation, the Warriors tied the game with Schmidt’s second goal of the game, assisted by Haden Frayne and Cruz Ferguson. Veteran Rhyse Brown scored the game-winning goal at 2:36 into the second overtime, securing Stratford's victory and a lead in the series.

Stratford netminder Noah Bender delivered a stellar performance with a 45-save effort in Game 3's win.

Brown commented on the overtime winner and praised his team's resilience, noting that the goal secured a crucial win and set the tone for the remainder of the series.

“Yeah, obviously it feels great. I mean, it's a huge goal. I was lucky that the puck found me there, and I was able to put it into the back of the net. But yeah, as I said, it was a grind. Throughout all of those overtimes, we've stuck together and played as a team, and luckily, we came out on top,” Brown said.

Game 4 took place on April 3 at the William Allman Memorial Arena, with a full house of 1,186 Warriors and Maroons fans packed the arena.

For the second time in the series, the Warriors scored the first goal as a shot by Aaron Green from the blueline went past Chatham netminder Samuel DiBlasi for the 1-0 lead. Quinn Kipfer connected on back-to-back goals, putting the Warriors ahead 3-0 through 20 minutes. Following the second Stratford goal, DiBlasi was relieved for Viljami Kukkola at the 8:22 mark of the period.

Max Wildfong from Ferguson and Green on the powerplay at 2:02 put the Warriors in a commanding 4-0 lead. Zanutto on the powerplay with 4:14 left in the middle frame put the Maroons on the board, but Kipfer’s hat trick less than 90 seconds later put the Warriors back up by four.

Bender and the Warriors' defence faced their toughest challenge of the game during a five-on-three powerplay late in the period. They stepped up and successfully killed the crucial penalty, which ended at the start of the third period.

Kipfer scored his fourth goal of the game at 6:57, assisted by Green and Ferguson. Galbraith, with assists from Evan Arnold and Ferguson, sealed the Game 4 victory with 3:02 remaining, leading to a 7-1 rout of the Chatham Maroons, taking a 3-1 series lead.

Kipfer and Green both led the Warriors with four points each, and a total of 10 players scored in the win.

Williams appreciated the fan support in Game 4 and recognizes the difficulty of the team closing the series in Chatham.

“Well, tonight we got on the board early, scoring some goals, right? And this is a great rink to play out. It can be intimidating for the other side. So I thought our guys did a really good job jumping out to a lead there and trying to get the crowd in behind,” Williams said.

“So I thought our guys played a really solid game from start to finish, and you know, now we've got to go down there and try and close out the series. It's always the toughest game to win the fourth game, and you know, maybe even more so against the team that finished first during the regular season, and it's the defending champions.”

Brown said the game plan was successful, resulting in a Game 4 win.

“We had enough intensity to be carried over, and we just rolled all four lines tonight, which is really good to see,” Brown said.

Kipfer praised his team's impressive performance, highlighting his personal success with the four goals and the team's overall victory. He noted the team's growth over the past three wins, stressing their increased confidence and understanding of their abilities.

“Obviously, a great performance from the team. Feels really good to get for myself. Every line was playing good tonight, so it's just really good to get a big win like this at home,” Kipfer said.

“We've realized how good a team we are. We can compete with these guys. We know that we're better than them, and we can just kind of go out and play our game. Everyone got their roles, and we just got to stick to that and make sure we're putting the puck in the net.”

Frayne emphasized the importance of maintaining their current form to secure the win, highlighted the home crowd's significant role in motivating the team, and expressed confidence in their ability to perform well.

“Yeah, it feels really good, obviously, but it's a lot huger than you think. Yeah, we really earned this, this two-game lead here. We've been playing really good hockey, and we just have to keep going and really, really focus on closing this out,” Frayne said.

“The crowd was amazing tonight. They really pushed us, and we just want to perform for them. So it's pretty cool being out there.”

When asked about the strategy for Game 5, Frayne, Brown and Kipfer agreed there’s no plan to change anything and intend to stick with the successful formula to close out the series.

On April 5 at the Chatham Memorial Arena, the Warriors looked to slay their demons from the previous playoffs and advance to the Western Conference Final.

Wildfong got things started for Stratford on the powerplay at 1:05 in the first period after he tipped in the shot from Green. Schmidt put the Warriors ahead 2-0 with 6:10 remaining in the opening frame. Much like for the large duration of the series to this point, Stratford kept the high-powered Maroons offence to a minimum impact and preserved the lead after 20 minutes.

The Warriors continued to pour on the goals in the second period as Green scored his second goal of the playoffs from Kipfer and Wildfong on the powerplay at 3:36. With two points, Green has accumulated six points in the last two contests with two goals and four assists.

Haylock and Ferguson added to the goal scoring at the midway point of the middle frame to put the Warriors in a commanding lead for the second straight game, this time in a 5-0 score through 40 minutes.

Kipfer has given the Maroons problems as he tallied seven points in the last two games, ten overall in the series (six goals and four assists) after recording three assists in the game.

Wildfong was another key offensive contributor for the Warriors, tallying six points in the series.

Evan Krell ended Bender’s shutout in the third period, scoring with 8:53 remaining to put the Maroons on the board. Less than 90 seconds later, frustrations erupted when Aydan Doyle checked Bender along the boards in Stratford’s zone, leading to multiple penalties, mostly to Chatham, which continued for the rest of the final period. After a tense sequence involving some Chatham fans, police and arena staff intervened to calm the situation, and the game resumed.

Fortunately, Game 5 concluded without further tension, and both teams and their coaches shook hands in the middle of the ice after the Warriors' series-ending victory. Bender made 40 saves in the decisive win. In the four wins in this series, the Waterloo netminder posted a 1.55 goals-against average and a 0.953 save percentage.

For the first time in their 51-year history, the Warriors will compete in the Western Conference final. This also marks their deepest playoff run since winning the 2023 Cherrey Cup when they competed in the Midwestern Conference before the GOHL introduced the current two-conference format in 2024.

Following the game, Williams was proud of the team’s performance in the series and acknowledged the physical and mental exhaustion of playing seven games in 10 days, emphasizing the importance of rest for the next round.

“It's fabulous. I mean (Chatham is) a really good hockey team. We've had the battle here, you know, through all five games. I like how our group played through all five games. Really proud of how we played over the last seven to 10 days, and really happy for them that they're going to get this opportunity to move on,” Williams said.

“It'd be nice to get a little bit of rest. I mean, these are hard series. When you start them up, you play seven games in 10 days. So a little bit of rest. Our guys have battled really hard, so I think a little rest will be good for our group, both physically and mentally. Just take a little bit of a break, and I'm sure they'll be interested to follow along to see who we're going to play next, and once we determine who that is, we'll start getting ready for them.”

Schmidt, Green and Curtin expressed their excitement about playing in the conference final. Alongside Brown and Frayne, Schmidt is the last remaining member of the 2023 Cherrey Cup Championship squad.

“Oh, it's awesome. We worked really hard to get here, and it's just a reflection of what we've done so far, and we should be proud of it, but there's a lot of work left to do, and we're all really eager to keep playing hockey, so it's been really exciting,” Schmidt said.

“Oh yeah, it feels really good. Everyone's worked so hard for this, and we've earned it. So we're gonna have fun with it moving forward and see what we can do,” Green said.

“It feels amazing, right? I mean, we were so close last year, and to be back in this building and have a different outcome. It feels great to kind of get our revenge, and we're ready to go for the next round,” Curtin said.

The Warriors will face the outcome of the series between the Elmira Sugar Kings and the St. Marys Lincolns. At this point, the Lincolns are ahead with a 3-2 series lead.

GOHL Western Conference Semifinals (#1 Chatham Maroons vs. #4 Stratford Warriors)

Game 1 – Stratford 2 Chatham 3

Game 2 – Chatham 2 Stratford 6

Game 3 – Stratford 4 Chatham 3 (2 OT)

Game 4 – Chatham 1 Stratford 7

Game 5 – Stratford 5 Chatham 1

Stratford wins series 4-1