Warriors stumble at halfway mark of the season

After a phenomenal shutout victory on home ice against one of their fellow first-place contenders, the Stratford Hunter Steel Ltd. Warriors stubbed their toe at the GOJHL Showcase tournament in Caledonia Dec. 6-8.

The Warriors hosted the LaSalle Vipers on Nov. 29 for the second half of a home-and-home series that began with a roller coaster ride of a game on Nov. 27 in LaSalle in which Stratford lost 5-4 in overtime. Head coach Dave Williams told the Times the up-and-down game left a bitter taste in the team’s mouths they were eager to get rid of 48 hours later.

“Our play was really consistent,” said Williams. “I thought we did a good job managing the puck. I thought we played really connected as a group of five, which allowed us to transition up the ice quickly. And I thought we defended really well. Getting the first goal gave the group some confidence, and I think going in, we felt like we let one get away from us the game before in LaSalle, after being down 2-0 and battling our way back to take a two-goal lead in the second, and then losing in overtime. So, coming off of that and only getting a point out of that game, I thought we came out a little bit more determined.”

Hudson Binder opened the scoring for Stratford just over seven minutes into the game against the Vipers with his fourth of the season and first of two powerplay goals by the Warriors in the first period. Cole Lewis followed it up with his 14th of the year a little over 11 minutes later on another Stratford man advantage.

Rhyse Brown scored in the second period, ending a goalless streak that had lasted for his previous five games. Brown had only scored once in his last 11 games heading into the game on Nov. 29. Quinn Kipfer then scored in the third, a goal that came after the Milverton native had just one goal in his previous four games.

Chase Furlong made 24 saves in the shutout bid.

Unfortunately, the 4-0 win against the Vipers didn’t spark momentum for the Warriors the following week at the GOJHL Showcase, where Stratford earned just one point and lost 3-1 to the St. Catharines Falcons before being upset 3-2 in overtime by the Port Colborne Sailors.

Williams admitted his team’s attention to detail wasn’t up to par throughout the weekend.

“The showcase really reflected the parity in the league, but we were hoping for a better result than we had, obviously. I think some of the details of our game need to be executed a little bit more consistently than they were. When you’re playing really good hockey teams, you have to battle for every inch on the ice. Every small play is really significant to the outcome of the game.”

In their first game of the tournament against the Falcons on Dec. 6, the two teams traded chances throughout the contest, but in the end, St. Catharines was able to capitalize more than Stratford to secure the 3-1 victory.

“The first game was tough, but it was a good opportunity for our group to see what the best in the other conference looked like,” Williams said. “It was really a 2-1 game with an empty netter at the end. We had opportunities to tie that game in the third period, but we just couldn’t find a way to get that tying goal.”

Hunter Nagge scored the only Stratford goal in the game, snapping a four-game goal drought, just the second time Nagge has been held scoreless for four straight games or more since the start of the 2023-2024 season.

The more disappointing game of the weekend, oddly enough, was the one the Warriors got a point out of when they lost 3-2 in overtime to Port Colborne.

Williams acknowledged the disappointing nature of the team’s second showcase game and, in particular, the middle period, one of the team’s most lacklustre 20-minute segments so far this season.

“It wasn’t one of our better games this season by any means. Our second period wasn’t very good at all. The entire second period wasn’t very good. At times, you expect you might have a few lapses and the other team will find some momentum in playing their game, but it shouldn’t happen for an entire period. That said, we were fortunate to get the game to overtime, and in overtime, we had several really good chances to win. But I think when we dig into that game, the entire group wasn’t happy with that effort we displayed.”

The Warriors’ two goals against the Sailors both came in the first period and were separated by just three minutes and 29 seconds. Dax Vader scored his eighth of the campaign, a goal that gave Vader points in five of his last six games, followed by Binder’s fifth of the year, which gave the product of Calgary, Alta. points in five of his last six and goals in four of his last five.

In the second frame, Port Colborne outshot the Warriors 10-3 and eventually got the game-tying and game-winning goals from Vasily Serov in the third period and overtime.

With the Warriors back on the ice on Dec. 11 against the Vipers in LaSalle, followed by a home game on Dec. 13 against the St. Marys Lincolns, Williams described the response he is looking for from his squad.

“It all starts with getting off to a really good start. In the short term, we’ve got a couple of tough games in front of us, and then through the rest of the season, our schedule isn’t going to be easy. We find that when we get off to a strong start, we have a tendency to play a more confident game from the top to the bottom of the lineup.”

The game against St. Catharines also marked the halfway point in the Warriors’ season, with Williams noting the one major focal point remains the team’s ability to be at their best every game.

“The focus is still on consistency. I think on the nights we play the way we’re capable of playing, we're a very good hockey team that has a good chance to win. But on nights when we don't control some of those smaller details the way we’re capable of doing, we find ourselves in a real dogfight to win those games. If we can collectively have and maintain good habits and consistently execute on the details of our game, we will have a good opportunity to win games.”