Thanks to a pair of wins over the weekend, the Stratford Warriors have fought their way into second place and have pulled within eight points of the St.Marys in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Western Conference.
The Warriors started the weekend off with a 3-1 win in St. Thomas over the Stars Friday night. Matthew Blake, Jonas Schmidt and Colin Slattery supplied the goals, while Carter McDougall made 28 stops in the win. Schmidt scored twice on Sunday as the Warriors skated to a 4-1 win over the KW Siskins. Rhyse Brown and Heath Bogart also scored and Carter McDougall made 19 stops in net.
Stratford plays a home-and-home set with the Sarnia Legionnaires this week, going to Sarnia Thursday before returning home Friday. Game time at the Allman is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Lincolns ran their hot streak to 10 games after posting two more wins over the weekend. They collected a 3-1 win over Sarnia Friday night as Nico Armellin stopped 27 shots for the win. They then dumped the Komoka Kings 3-1 on the road Saturday, with Colby Booth-Housego stopping 24 shots. The Lincs have a tough three-game slate this week, including a home-and-home with the LaSalle Vipers that sees the teams meet Wednesday in LaSalle before the rematch in St. Marys on Friday. The Lincolns close out the weekend Sunday night with a road date in Elmira.
It was a split weekend for the Stratford Fighting Irish. On Friday, the Irish lost 6-2 in Elora. Colin Martin and Matt Montgomery provided goals in the defeat. Stratford flipped the script against the league-leading Alvinston Killer Bees Saturday at home, as Graham Brulotte scored in overtime to give the Fighting Irish the 5-4 win. Cameron Stokes, Cole Thiessen, Zach Magwood, and Christian Polillo also scored in the win. Stratford hosts Dunnville at the Allman Arena Saturday and then heads to Tilbury to take on the Bluebirds Sunday.
The Tavistock Braves lost on Friday 5-3 against New Hamburg, before losing 3-2 in overtime against Norwich on Saturday. The Braves sit in seventh place in the South Doherty Division with a 11-22-2-0-1 record. The Braves are in action twice this week, both on the road; in New Hamburg Friday night before heading to Dorchester on Saturday.
The Mitchell Hawks doubled up Walkerton 4-2 on Saturday in their lone game of the weekend. They head out on the road for a pair of games this week, starting Friday in Kincardine before finishing in Mount Forest Saturday against the Patriots.