Warriors open series with the Nationals
- Mar 19
- 9 min read
Following a demanding 50-game regular season, the Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors start their pursuit of the Sutherland Cup by facing the London Nationals in the best-of-seven GOHL Western Conference Quarterfinals.
As the postseason approaches, Drew Hodge, Jonas Schmidt, Rhyse Brown, Quinn Kipfer and Joseph Curtin reflected on their experiences returning to the playoffs and discussed the essential factors for winning the series.
“It's definitely an honour. This is what we strive for all year. This was our end goal the whole season,” Hodge said. “I think our focus is just playing Warrior hockey, working our tail off and just everyone bringing in 110 per cent effort every night.”
“It's great. Obviously, this is what we spend the year preparing for. So we're all really looking forward to getting started,” Schmidt said.
“We just want to play the way we have been all year and progress on that. Obviously, the little things matter a whole lot more now. So we really just need to amplify our attention, attention to detail.”
“I’m looking forward to it. This is where everything cracks down. Everything's harder. Games are tougher, and this is where the real hockey starts. Obviously, it's way rougher and way more intense. I'm looking forward to it,” Brown said.
“I think we should play our game. We've had battles with these guys (London) in the season, obviously, and it should be a good series. Yeah, we're going to work hard and play our game and fast get pucks to the net and four more goals.”
“It's good, obviously an exciting time of the year. You work hard every day to kind of put yourself in the best position possible, coming into the playoffs. We were happy to get home-ice advantage, and now we're hoping to make the most of it. We know how much the Allman means to us and playing here. So yeah, everyone's really excited,” Kipfer said.
“We know our identity. We play fast, so just kind of sticking to that and making sure we get it to them right from the start. Don't take any time to kind of settle into the series. We want to be the first ones to kind of take it to them and set them on their heels.”
“It's awesome. This is what we've worked for all year. I mean, glad we're back, and it's going to be a battle of the first series already,” Curtin said.
“I think we competed very well with them (London) all year. The season series went to them, but I think it could have gone either way, and all those games. So I think it's honestly just keep doing what we're doing and play full 60 minutes every night, and I think the games will go our way.”
Head coach Dave Williams stated that he and the team are pleased to be returning to the playoffs and that their confidence is very high going into the first round.
“It seems so long ago that we kind of got rolling in August. The guys have put in a lot of time and effort to get to this point. We're chatting with them after the game at Chatham, and it's almost like the 50 regular-season games are 50 exhibition games to try and get ready for this point. If you've learned anything so far through 50 games, just the parity in the league, that's just how good you have to be every night consistently if you want to win hockey games,” Williams said.
“Really good. I think guys are excited. I think credit to our guys to be down to Chatham a little short-staffed. Both teams were playing for something on Sunday, and I thought our guys battled really hard, so I'm really happy that we're able to find that tying goal and get home ice, right? So I think in the playoffs, everybody wants to start at home, and I think our guys are excited for the opportunity to play.”
Five-hundred-eighty-one fans braved the elements and travelled to the Allman Arena for the first game on March 13.
Early in the tightly-contested first period, the Warriors successfully killed a four-minute power play. Moments later, they earned a power play of their own after Max Wildfong was taken down on a breakaway.
Early in the Stratford power play, the Nationals took the lead when Alexandre Campeau outskated two Warriors defenders in the Stratford zone and scored by shooting the puck just past netminder Noah Bender with 7:04 remaining in the first period. Later in the same power play, with nine seconds left, Stratford equalized as Dominic Marshall scored on a rebound shot past the Nationals’ netminder Dante Bertolin.
Late in the second period, Bender and the Warriors' defence faltered as London capitalized on their mistakes as Joshua Lipinski netted two quick goals within 26 seconds, putting the visitors ahead 3-1. Just 44 seconds before the period's end, Coen Galbraith, assisted by Dax Vader and Jaxon Broda, closed the gap by scoring from close range past Bertolin.
The Warriors sought to equalize early in the third period, but a familiar face extended the Nationals' two-goal advantage. Former Warrior Jack McGurn scored the crucial goal, slipping the puck past Bender's left side at 6:50 of the final period. Nathaniel Adams sealed the series-opening victory at 9:09.
Bender made 32 saves in the Game 1 loss.
After the game, Williams was straightforward about the team’s performance in the loss.
“We need to be a lot better than we were here tonight. I didn't really like the start to the game for us, five-on-five. I mean, given that we're at home and it's the first game of the playoffs, we get to play in this great rink. You would think that there would be no lack of motivation to go out there and get right after the game. But we struggled to get to our game there, but we found a little momentum through the powerplay, even though we gave up that shorthanded goal. I actually thought we found a little momentum there,” Williams said.
“The margin of error is so small, we've talked about it the entire year, and it shouldn't be something that surprises us, with the parity in the league that you've got to be almost perfect every night to win. We just made too many mistakes, and I thought we lost too many battles collectively.”
With an assist in Game 1, Ferguson says he and the team need to put in more effort to bounce back in Game 2.
“I just think we've got to come up better. It's another slow start. We've had trouble with that lately, and I think we'll do better tomorrow. The pregame skate should’ve gotten our legs going, and I think special teams were good tonight. But we need to get better,” Ferguson said.
Undermanned, the Warriors aimed to bounce back in game two as they travelled to the Western Fair Sports Centre on March 13.
In a strange case of déjà vu for the Warriors, London started the scoring in a similar way. Just like in Game 1, during the Stratford powerplay, the Nationals took advantage of a mistake in the neutral zone. At 6:54, Nicholas Kiss converted on the breakaway from the turnover and beat Bender stick side, putting the Nationals ahead.
In the second period, the Warriors responded with a breakaway goal. Grady Murphy received a pass from Curtin in the neutral zone and scored against London goalie Bertolin at the glove side, tying the game. On the power play at 9:44, Luke Minard's quick one-timer put the Warriors ahead 2-1. Less than two minutes later, Broda scored his first goal of the series, extending Stratford's lead to 3-1.
Throughout the third period, London pushed for the comeback, but Bender and the Warriors' defence held firm and secured the win late with an empty-net goal from the veteran Brown, who scored with 1:04 remaining. Bender made 25 saves on 26 shots for the victory.
After the game, Williams was very happy with the Game Two win but highlighted the need for better on-ice discipline, as the Warriors took eight penalties.
“It feels really good. I thought the guys did, you know, a really good job tonight. We had a good skate this morning, a good video session. I thought the guys’ details were better tonight than they were yesterday. We got to clean up a little bit, get ourselves into some penalty trouble, which made it a little bit tougher on us for the night,” Williams said.
“I thought the second period, we were really finding our stride there. So I think that's what we have to focus on, is just playing five-on-five and minimizing their power play opportunities.”
With the series tied at one each, Game 3 took place at the Allman Arena on March 16. This game was notable for marking Schmidt's return, as he played his first game since Feb. 20 against the St. Thomas Stars.
For the first time in this series, the Warriors took the lead. During a powerplay at 4:41 in the first period, Broda fired the puck past Bertolin for his second playoff goal, assisted by Schmidt and Galbraith.
London equalized early in the second period when Cooper McAslan's shot slipped past Bender's left pad for a game-tying goal at 4:09. Stratford then took the lead permanently on a fortunate bounce in front of London's crease, and Marshall seized the opportunity to score on the open net.
In the closing seconds of the middle period, the Warriors took advantage of a power play when Kipfer deflected Will Coward’s shot in front of the net, getting past Bertolin and putting them ahead 3-1 going into the third period.
Bender was outstanding in the third period, saving all 13 shots he faced. The Warriors secured their victory with two late goals – Murphy on the powerplay and Green on the empty net – finishing with a 5-1 win and taking a 2-1 series lead. Bender made 28 saves out of 29 shots, and Brown led the Warriors with three points in the decisive third game.
Williams liked the team’s resilience in the Game 3 win.
“I thought it was a good, hard-fought game, exactly what we expected here for Game 3 after each team, you know, won a game in the first two. So it's nice to see the powerplay, you know, come alive a little bit there, and get us three goals. Yeah. I mean, that's what these games are about. It's a good team on the other side pushing all the time, and we're trying to push to gain momentum as well,” Williams said.
“I thought they actually gained a little bit of momentum in the third. I think what you want to guard against when you've got the lead, you always like to play with the lead rather than chase. I still think we're at our best when we're kind of on our toes, putting pucks in behind … I think the third was a little harder than we might have liked, but credit to our guys. They continue to battle and get through a couple penalty kills, finding a way.”
Frayne expresses satisfaction with the win and the series lead but acknowledges that he and the team haven't yet played their best hockey from start to finish.
“The energy's high. We had a really good game past two games. Really bought into our systems, and we're just really hounding them. It's been good,” Frayne said.
“We're not really stepping up for the full 60, and that's obviously something we need to change. I think we did a good job of containing them, though. We didn't give them too many high-chance opportunities. So it's something we got to change, though, play a full 60.”
Marshall shared his thoughts on the team taking the series lead and detailed the play that led to the game-winning goal.
“That's exactly what we're looking for there. You know, it's a team effort. That's what it takes to win, win games, and especially playoff games. So as long as we've got everybody going, I think we'll be more than okay,” Marshall said.
“Yeah, so end of my shift, I'll be honest, I wanted to get off, but I saw Brownie (Brown) at the puck, and I just kind of went to the net with my stick on the ice like, everybody says I do, and I got rewarded. So that's basically all that happened there.”
In the last two games, Bender has achieved a 2-0 record with a 1.00 goals-against-average and a .964 save percentage. Bender discussed the key differences that helped the Warriors take the series lead after losing Game 1.
“Yeah, I think just staying together as a team, banding together. I think we're playing together a lot more, a lot better communication,” Bender said.
The Warriors have a chance to take control of the series as they head to London for Game Four on March 18, after press time, and potentially secure the series on home ice at the Allman on March 20.
GOHL Western Conference Quarterfinals (#4 Stratford Warriors Vs. #5 London Nationals
Game 1 – London 5 Stratford 2
Game 2 – Stratford 4 London 1
Game 3 – London 1 Stratford 5
Game 4 – Stratford vs. London (Western Fair Sports Centre) March 18, 7 p.m.
Game 5 – London vs. Stratford (William Allman Memorial Arena) March 20, 7:30 p.m.
Game 6 – Stratford vs. London (Western Fair Sports Centre) March 22, 7:30 p.m., if needed
Game 7 - London vs. Stratford (William Allman Memorial Arena) March 25, 7:30 p.m., if needed
Stratford leads series 2-1
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