Warriors name leadership group, finish preseason

By: Michael Willoughby

On Sept. 1, the Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors revealed their leadership group for the upcoming season.

Colin Slattery and Aaron Green were announced as co-captains, the first time since the 2023-24 season the team will have co-captains, when Cole Lewis and Camden Daigle undertook the co-captaincy.

Green shared his pride and enthusiasm for leading the team and described his leadership approach to the Times.

“It's an honour. Growing up in Stratford, you dream of being a captain here, and yeah, it's a dream come true,” Green said.

“Both on and off the ice, I bring a presence in the room. I just try and be a guy the players on the team can rely on, and I'm an open voice, and I try and get the most out of the guys.”

Slattery feels honoured to be co-captain of the Stratford Warriors hockey team and wants to use his leadership skills effectively.

“It's a big honour. You know, being a local kid, everyone dreams of this. So, I'm honoured, truly,” Slattery said.

“I hope to lead by example on and off the ice. You know, whether it's making the right play in the defence zone or scoring a goal when the moment needs it.”

Drew Hodge, Will Coward, Jaxon Broda and Dominic Marshall were named the team’s alternate captains. All four players felt honoured to join the leadership group and shared with the Times how they plan to help guide the team this season.

“Yeah, we have a lot of leaders on this team, and it's just an honour to be recognized as one. And I'm just going to take what I have learned from my past leaders and put it to use on this team, and hopefully, we can make a winning team,” Hodge said.

“I think I'm a little bit of both the on-ice and off-ice guy. I'm gonna work hard all the time on the ice, and I'm just a fun guy off the ice.”

“It's very important. We got a good leadership group coming back this year. A lot of returning veterans, and just looking to lead by example,” Coward said. “Just keeping it light with the boys, not being too hard on them, and just coming to the rink every day and having fun.”

“It's an awesome opportunity. Glad to know that the coaches think I'm one of the guys that can be a part of this leadership group in such a deep returning lineup here,” Broda said. “I'm loud on the ice. I talk to guys, tell them maybe what they don't see, and try to help out as much as I can.”

“I'm super excited. You know, I've always wanted to be a leader, especially for a team like the Stratford Warriors. It's definitely an honour,” Marshall said. “Loud, hard and effective. That's just like the will to win. So I hope I can lead the group to a win this year.”

Head coach Dave Williams explained the decision in forming the leadership group, highlighting their leadership qualities and local roots, which add passion and a sense of community connection. He stressed that leadership extends beyond those with formal titles, with many players contributing significantly off the ice.

“Yeah, I mean we were discussing it as a staff. I think one of the strengths of this group that we're returning, and even as some of the guys we brought in, I think we felt like we had a really good collective leadership group here, and we definitely have guys that are not going to wear a letter that, as coaches, we think have a high degree of leadership. So guys don't need to wear a letter to lead. The big thing is the guys that have letters, there's a different level of accountability we expect from them to lead, so we're really happy with the group we were able to select here,” Williams said.

“We think we put some really good people in good positions that can help have an impact both on and off the ice. The other nice key thing is that both Colin and Aaron are local guys, and we've been fortunate here over the last number of years to have had good local players we can put in that spot. So, I think having that local element with those two guys, they have a little extra passion and care for wanting to do well, being guys that grew up and watched the team play, and being guys that live in the community.”

Stratford hosted the St. Marys Lincolns in their final tuneup on Sept. 4 at the Rotary Complex.

The first period went scoreless, but Stratford got on the board first on the powerplay with Green’s second of the preseason from Broda and Francesco Sanita at 1:35 into the second period. St. Marys scored with a power-play goal of their own with 6:10 remaining in the middle frame.

Stratford retook the lead near the five-minute mark of the third period as Chase Martin notched his second of the preseason from Grady Murphy and Ethan Bridges.

With 5:32 left in the game, Murphy scored his fourth of the preseason from Marshall to pad the Warriors’ lead to 3-1. The Lincolns cut the Warriors' lead to 3-2 with 2:09 remaining, but Murphy tallied his second of the game on an empty-netter to seal the win for the Warriors.

Travis Vanderzwaag and Gage Hurst shared goaltending duties for Stratford, combining for 20 saves out of 22 shots in the win.

The Warriors begin the 2026-2027 GOHL season on the road against the Lincolns on Sept. 11 and in Woodstock against the Navy Vets on Sept. 12.