Warriors smash LaSalle Vipers but lose to St. Thomas Stars

As the Warriors prepared for another game week, the trio of Rhyse Brown, Coen Galbraith and Dax Vader discussed what the team needed to do against the LaSalle Vipers and St. Thomas Stars.

"We just have to replicate our game this weekend and just keep moving forward and try to have the same performance (from last week versus Listowel and Chatham), and the outcome will show how we play," Brown said.

"Just put together a real two hard-working games. Just get in the dirty areas and do what you need to do," Vader said.

"We have to stay out of the penalty box and get in the dirty areas and put the pucks on net," Galbraith added. 

On Oct. 17 at the William Allman Memorial Arena, the Warriors flexed their offensive muscle and orchestrated a goal-scoring barrage in a strong 7-1 win over the visiting Vipers.

Max Wildfong opened the scoring for Stratford at 7:29 with his third goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Colin Slattery notched his fourth of the season to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

Dominic Marshall scored his second of the season with 2:47 left in the period, and Haden Frayne's first of the year in the dying seconds gave the Warriors a commanding 4-0 lead through twenty minutes.

The Vipers drew one back at 3:47 of the second period, ending the Warriors' shutout streak on home ice at 151 minutes and 21 seconds. But Stratford were not to be discouraged as newcomer Evan Arnold scored his first with the Warriors late in the period to restore the four-goal lead. 

Arnold struck paydirt once more with his second goal at 2:48, which expanded the Stratford lead to 6-1, and Marshall's second of the game capped off the scoring for the Warriors with 2:52 left in the game. Stratford Goaltender Noah Bender picked up the win as he stopped 25 of 26 shots.

Post-game, Warriors head coach Dave Williams liked the offensive performance the team accomplished, especially the details utilized in practice.

"It's nice for us to kind of break out and get rewarded a little more than we have around the net," Williams said.

"Hopefully scoring seven goals gives our group a little more confidence heading into Sunday at St. Thomas, maybe we'll grip the sticks a little less and be a little more confident around the net, and it is something we've talked a fair bit about the last couple weeks in practice and tried to really reinforce in practice, just making sure we're hitting the net as much as we can."

Acquired in a trade just hours before the game, Arnold shares his first impressions with the club and the city, including scoring his first GOHL goal. 

"It's great. I'm loving it here. I've been here probably for like five hours now. Love the community. The town's awesome, and people are just amazing," Arnold said. "It was just awesome hearing the fans go wild, and it was just a great, amazing opportunity and experience."

Marshall felt happy with the team's performance, especially with the bounce back in the third period.

"It was really good. I thought we played a good start, a good, hard start, a little struggle in the second, but the third came back. We came out flying. We're resilient the whole time," Marshall said.

"Feels good, yeah, love to score two ones. One's always good, but two's better. Framer (Frayne) set me up there, and Brownie (Brown) did too, and I'm glad I could put them both in for the boys."

Bender was appreciative of the team's all-around effort and made his job less stressful.

"It was a good team effort. Everybody showed up. Defence was good in front of me, our forwards scored lots of goals," Bender said. "Makes my job a lot easier."

The Warriors travelled to St. Thomas to face the Stars on Oct. 19. Slattery opened the scoring for Stratford at the 3:25 mark in the first period. Stratford doubled their lead at 5:06 of the second period when Arnold scored his third goal in his second game with the Warriors.

After the Stars got on the board with under seven minutes in the period, Wildfong recorded his fourth of the season just over ninety seconds later, and Stratford went into the third period up 3-1. 

But the Stars soared back to tie the game in the third period and force overtime. After a thrilling overtime period, the game went to a shootout when the Stars prevailed. Despite the loss, the Warriors snatched a point in the standings.

Williams said he was discouraged with the team's third-period effort but wants to use this loss to improve their game. 

"I thought they had lots of speed,” Williams said in regard to the Stars. “Definitely a much better team than they had last year. You know, a little disappointing to have the game up 3-1, and to only get a point out of that.

"But hopefully we can learn a little bit. Part of being a good team is making sure you know that teams like that get back into it. I thought their youth finish showed up a little bit, and their pace of play there, you know. They came at us in the third, and it ended up with a point."

Despite the split, several Warriors extended their point streaks. With another three points over the weekend, Wildfong extended his point streak to five games, with three goals and four assists during the streak. Kipfer has averaged a point (one goal and four assists) in his last five, and McGurn has five points in his four-game point streak.

Ranked seventh in the Western Conference, the Warriors are facing two of the top five teams next weekend. On Oct. 24, they host the London Nationals at the Allman Arena and travel to Waterloo for the first time this season to face the Siskins.

Wildfong says the key for this week is to improve with their system and stick to the details, while Slattery understands the objective.

"I think it just starts with practice, doing what the coaches want us to do, and I think that'll lead the way to success throughout this weekend," Wildfong said.

"We got two big games here, so we're definitely hoping to come back and get revenge in both those games," Slattery said.