Warriors soar past Stars, Galbraith scores first GOHL goal in win over Legionnaires

The Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors continued to build on their winning streak with wins over the St. Thomas Stars and the Sarnia Legionnaires.

Warriors head coach Dave Williams addressed the Times on the game plan for their mid-week matchup against the St. Thomas Stars following practice on Dec. 1.

“We've had two games with them, and I think they play with a lot of paces. They're a young team with some good skills, and their coach, Jason Williams, does a really good job with them. So, we're gonna have to match their speed,” Williams said.

“I think we, typically, our team (skates) well, so we're going to have to do a really good job … going to have to put pucks in good areas, match them through the neutral zone and work hard."

Williams also mentioned to the Times about not taking the Sarnia Legionnaires lightly despite the win-loss record.

“I think our guys in our room recognize the parity in the league and that you have to come prepared every night to win. There are no easy games this year,” Williams said.

"I think it's just really hammering down on the details of things that we need to do when we're good and just trying to do that, and at the same time, consistently, you always have to recognize there are always 20 other guys on the other side trying to disrupt how you play. So, I think it's important just for that consistency of things."

In a wintry night at the Joe Thornton Community Centre in St. Thomas on Dec. 3, they poured on a fountain of shots and came away with the 3-1 win over the Stars.

After a scoreless first period, the Warriors got on the board first on a shorthanded, unassisted breakaway goal by Joseph Curtin 84 seconds into the period. The Stars equalized midway through the period, and the score remained deadlocked at one apiece heading into the third period.

Quinn Kipfer scored his seventh of the season from Aaron Green and Matthew Blake, with under nine minutes remaining, giving the Warriors a 2-1 lead. St. Thomas pressed for overtime, but the Stratford defence locked down during the closing seconds, and then Max Wildfong received the neutral zone pass from Kipfer to shoot in the empty net for his 11th of the season before time expired.

Kipfer and Curtin discussed the sequence that led to their key goals.

"I think just kind of a rush to transition there in the neutral zone, and Greener (Aaron Green) drove in and saw me high, and I was able to walk in and take the goalie high blocker," Kipfer said.

"We were five on four. I was just kind of following my guy at the wall, and he got trapped under," Curtin said. "I poked it and went down in and saw him drop low and went high. So just saw how it happened."

Williams was pleased with the team's all-around performance against the young, high-powered St. Thomas squad.

“I really liked our effort to compete from the drop of the puck. I thought we put together three good periods against a good, fast-skilled team and were territorially sound," Williams said.

"We did a good job managing the puck in the offensive zone. We just struggled to get rewarded around the net. Very good effort tonight."

The league’s hottest team faced off with the league’s cellar-dwelling Sarnia Legionnaires on Dec. 5 at the Allman Arena.

Despite being heavily outshot, Sarnia took advantage of its limited time on offence and opened the scoring with 5:19 to go in the first period. The score remained 1-0 for the visitors, although the Warriors had a shots-on-goal ratio of 4-to-1 in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Stratford responded with a pair of goals from Jonas Schmidt early in the second period to lead 2-1, but the Legionnaires responded with over nine minutes left in the period. Following the Sarnia goal, the Warriors broke through the Sarnia defence and unleashed an overflow of goals.

The overflow began with six minutes remaining in the middle frame, as another career milestone was reached when Coen Galbraith scored his first GOHL goal, giving the Warriors the 3-2 lead. Galbraith made a warm gesture to his family members in the crowd after his milestone goal.

Schmidt completed his trick with 3:27 left to double the Stratford lead, and Dax Vader put the finishing touches with 2:01 left to give the Warriors a commanding 5-2 lead heading into the third period. For the second straight game this week, the Warriors pounded the opposition in the shots-on-goal category 86-29 through 40 minutes in both games.

Galbraith’s second goal and Wildfong’s goal added insurance for the Warriors in the final frame as the Warriors won 7-2 to win their ninth game in a row and improve their overall home record to an unblemished 10-0-1-0 in the season.

Following the game, Galbraith shared what it meant to score his first career goal in front of his family in attendance.

"Oh, it's great. Lots of my family got me here. They supported me throughout the way, all the long drives, all the weekends we had to spend away from Murmur. It’s just great to see them,” Galbraith said.

Williams liked that Galbraith got the elusive first career goal, along with his work ethic so far this season and the positive impact the rookie has had on his teammates.

"He (Galbraith) has come in and played incredibly well. I know everybody wants to contribute offensively, and we need to get some contributions from everybody in the lineup. But he's come in, and he's played the way we wanted him to play," Williams said.

"His teammates were incredibly happy for that goal. There was a lot of excitement on the bench because, you know, everybody wanted to get him rewarded with the goal. So hopefully that's, you know, the first two of many here pushing into the second half of the season."

Schmidt praised the head coach and his teammates for their performance in the game, especially in the second period, when the Warriors were in a tough predicament early on.

"Sometimes the game goes like that for you," Schmidt said. "We had a tough one at the end of the first, but thanks to Willy (Williams), he put us back out there and gave us some trust in a second. I thought my line mates and the defence did an excellent job."

Williams was appreciative of the effort but pointed out the importance of generating more quality chances in front of the opposition's goal.

"Liked a lot about our game. I thought we did a good job generating shots. I think we still need to focus on getting higher-quality shots. But with respect to volume, I thought we did a good job territorially playing in their end," Williams said.

"It took us a little while to get going there and get a few in the second, a little momentum, and maybe allowed us to take a bit of a breath, given how the game up to that point had been pretty tight."

Next up for the Warriors is the first "Battle of Highway 7" matchup of the season, as they head to St. Marys to take on the Lincolns on Dec. 11, host the London Nationals on Dec. 12, and play in the GOHL Spotlight Showcase game against the Listowel Cyclones on Dec. 14.

The Warriors showed their holiday spirit by giving back to the community

During the weekend of Dec. 6 and 7, the Stratford Hunter Steel Warriors gave back to the community by hosting the annual "Skate with the Warriors" at the William Allman Memorial Arena and taking part in the Santa’s Parade of Lights.

Williams explained the importance of the team's involvement in the community during this time.

"It's always important. We're fortunate to have the support of the local community. The hockey clubs have always been well supported. So, any chance we get, give a little back, and talk to the guys even after the game, to make sure that when they're off the ice, if they're connecting with anybody who comes out," Williams said.

"Most of them were probably in that stage a few years ago when they were coming out, and especially local kids who grew up in the community, getting a chance to meet guys on the team is always special. Same thing for the Christmas parade, just trying to interact with as many people as possible, because we got a great group of young men, and like to get as many people as possible out to watch them."

Assistant captain Jonas Schmidt says he always looks forward to being involved with the community.

“I mean, we love doing that stuff. The community supports you so much. It's really the only way this organization runs, and we really enjoy doing this stuff,” Schmidt said.