Warriors outlast Nationals and Maroons for weekend sweep

By: Michael Willoughby

Looking for their first win of the season, the Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors faced the London Nationals at the William Allman Memorial Arena on Sept. 25 and travelled to Chatham to face the Chatham Maroons on Sept. 27.

Warriors head coach Dave Williams says the team needs to build a proper mindset.

“We just need to find confidence,” Williams said. “… I don't think we've played poor hockey. I think we've had some stretches in really good hockey. It's just a little bit more challenging. I think psychologically, mentally, when you don't get the result that maybe you feel you deserve.

“So, I think it's just trying to stay positive and keep trying to build habits and details that are going to have positive outcomes or positively influence hockey games. The guys are practicing hard. I thought last week, last Wednesday, that was maybe one of our better practices. So I think we just got … to have a short memory and keep plugging away.”

Netminder Gage Hurst says despite the 0-3 start, the team’s current morale remains positive, and shared his thoughts on the two games ahead.

“I think in the room it's great still with the boys. You know, obviously not ideal to start off 0-3, but the boys still have confidence. I think it's just a lot of small details we've got to fix up. We're a very tight group, so I feel like we can get that fixed up pretty quick. But all around, pretty positive vibes,” Hurst said.

“I think it's small details, penalty kill, power play, stuff like that. You know, just small things like passing as well. Just got to tighten everything up, and we’ll get the win.”

On Sept. 25, the Warriors started strong with a 2-0 lead in the first period. Francesco Sanita scored at 7:32, assisted by Jaxon Broda and Grady Murphy, followed by McQuen Haylock’s first goal of the season from Sanita and Dominic Marshall with 8:53 remaining. London scored once with 2:41 remaining, narrowing the Stratford lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes. Throughout the period, Stratford outshot London 17-7.

The score remained 2-1 until Haylock notched his second of the game from Ethan Bridges and Will Coward with under two minutes remaining in the second period, thus giving the Warriors their two-goal lead back. London closed the gap once again less than a minute later.

On the power play around the midway point of the third period, Colin Slattery scored his first of the season to put the Warriors up 4-2. Just over 90 seconds later, London scored to close the Stratford lead to one, and tied the game with 4:51 remaining.

After being rewarded with a power play in the last second of regulation, the Warriors capitalized on the opportunity in overtime, as Marshall scored the game-winner, securing the Warriors’ first win in the 2026-27 season. Netminder Noah Bender overcame a shaky third period for his first win of the season, stopping 29 of 33 Nationals shots.

Following the game, a very elated Marshall and Haylock shared their thoughts on the team’s big overtime win over the Nationals on home ice.

“It feels amazing. I mean, it took us a while. Obviously, three games in, it's not ideal, but getting the first win at home will hopefully set us up for a big weekend and carry the momentum there. So, I think it's a really big thing. Feels good,” Haylock said.

“Feels good, you know. Team effort definitely came in and wanted that win. So, I think everybody played a good part, and glad we got that last goal in the end,” Marshall said.

Williams was very pleased with the team’s strong showing after a productive week of practice paid dividends.

“They're really happy. They've been working hard … We've been going down here six, seven weeks from the start of camp. They've been working incredibly hard in practice, so I think it was a big one to get that first win and get that monkey off our back a little bit, and yeah, it's a happy room right now,” Williams said.

Haylock’s comment about momentum came to fruition when the team went to the Chatham Memorial Arena on Sept. 27 to face the Maroons.

After surrendering the opening goal early in the first period, the Warriors put on their best offensive display of the season to date as Mateo Craievich, Max Wildfong and Aaron Green all scored their first of the year in a 7:30 span to put the Warriors ahead 3-1.

After Drew Hodge’s second of the year with 4:40 remaining put the Warriors in a commanding 4-1 lead, the Maroons scored a late goal in the opening frame to cut the Warriors' lead in half before the period ended.

Chatham clawed back to tie the game with goals in early second and third periods, but Wildfong replied for the Warriors on the power play at the 5:41 mark of the period, and held on to a 5-4 statement win on the road. Bender stopped 36 out of 40 shots for his second straight win since returning to the team earlier this month.

The Warriors will have the forthcoming weekend off before returning to action on Oct. 9 at the Allman Arena against the Sarnia Legionnaires.