Warriors spin past Cyclones and take down defending champion Maroons

In team practice preparing for game week, Stratford Warriors veterans Jonas Schmidt and Quinn Kipfer said the team is having excellent practices and believes they are turning the corner as they prepare for Listowel and Chatham.  

"I think for us right now, it's just playing our own game, working on the things that the coaching staff has brought to us, trying to execute our game plan, and I think maybe later in the season we'll learn more about the teams we're playing against," Schmidt said.

"We know they're both going to be tough opponents. Listowel is always good against us, and Chatham has been really good this year," Kipfer said.

"We'll look at some video, being ready, and just come out hard and compete against those teams."

On Oct. 10, the Warriors hosted their regional rivals, the Listowel Cyclones, at the William Allman Memorial Arena in their first game of the season, dubbed the "Battle of Perth County," Earlier in the game, the Warriors announced that the patch honouring the team's late former general manager Glen Childerley will be worn on the players' helmets for the remainder of the season. 

After a defensive stalemate in the first period, the Warriors broke through with a pair of goals in a span of fifty seconds. Jack McGurn scored his second of the season at 4:13, and Colin Slattery notched his third of the season at 5:03. 

Goaltender Gage Hurst and the Warriors kept the Cyclones in check before Grady Murphy tallied a pair of his own late in the period to give the home side a 4-0 win. Hurst improved to 2-0 in the season and recorded his first career Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL) shutout.

Warriors Head Coach Dave Williams liked how the Warriors bounced back from a tough start in the first period and found a way in the final two periods to beat one of the contending teams in the Western Conference.

"I didn't think we really liked our start. I thought maybe the first couple of shifts, we looked like we had a little bit of jump in energy, but for the vast majority of that first period, I felt like we were chasing a lot of pucks. We didn't manage it very well," Williams said. 

"We get to the dressing room and get talking about how we have to play. There's so much parity in this league any given night, when you look at the scores, different teams are beating other teams. We have to find that consistency in our game if we're going to give ourselves the best chance to win every night."

Both McGurn and Murphy said it is good to beat their rivals and get the victory.

"It feels good to beat the rival team. We didn't come out hot. But we finished strong and got the two points," McGurn said.

"With the Perth County kind of battle going on, then we knew it was gonna be a big game," Murphy said. "They came out hot, and then we kind of weathered the storm, and we kept them there."

Hurst said the team's performance reflects the effort shown in practices, particularly on defence. 

"It feels great. The guys are doing a great job running our system. They're doing a great job playing in front of me, Hurst said.

 "We're working every day, showing up, being consistent, and we're getting the results." 

On Oct. 12, the Warriors faced the defending Sutherland Cup champion Chatham Maroons at the Chatham Memorial Arena. 

After a scoreless opening twenty minutes of play, the Maroons struck first less than a minute into the period and went up 2-0 at the 2:55 mark. But the Warriors drew one back with 3:33 left in the period on the goal from McGurn's third of the season. 

Stratford controlled the early stages of the third period, and their effort paid dividends on the power play with Max Wildfong scoring his second of the season at 4:33 of the period. Wildfong led all Warriors with two points in the game.

With the game going to a shootout after a scoreless overtime period, it took seven rounds until McGurn stepped up for the game-winning goal to give the big Warriors a win. Noah Bender gets his second win as a member of the Warriors with 40 saves and a clutch save on the seventh round of the shootout.

An elated McGurn was pleased to score the winning goal and leave Chatham with the big two points.

"It feels great. We were down 2-0 and came back. Feels even better going to come back (to Stratford)," McGurn said. "The bus ride back is gonna be great." 

Williams was satisfied with the two wins and the team's effort to secure a road victory at one of the league's most challenging arenas.

"Well, I think that's a great way to end the weekend. I thought we had a solid game on Friday and hopefully a bit of a character win for us being down 2-0 against a very good team here in Chatham," Williams said. 

"To battle our way back, and we even got to some penalty trouble there, and they're having to kill off three minors, and found a way to work our way through it. Really excited for the guys to pull out a win in the shootout."

The Warriors play host to the LaSalle Vipers at the Allman Arena on Oct. 17, and travel to St. Thomas for a matchup with the Stars on Oct. 19.