2011-12 Atom A - Atom A's Clinch Playoff Spot
The Atom A Aces, clinched the final playoff spot in their division after two exciting games played on Sunday. Stratford was sitting in 9th spot in their division, which allows only 8 teams to move on to the playoff rounds heading into this final regular season weekend.
The Aces hosted Guelph Thunder Sunday morning and took an early lead on a goal by Christena Downey. Guelph answered shortly after with 2 quick goals late in the first period. The Aces took control of the game in the second period by scoring two goals, one from Madison Smith, and Downey's second of the game. Brooklyn Rau, who had 3 points in the game clinched the game by scoring in the third. Assists went to Natalie Weinheimer, and Ryley Jacobs.
The Aces then travelled to London later in the afternoon, where they had to win in order to move into the playoff round. The Devilettes seemed to be the stronger team, but they could not penetrate the Aces defence, and strong backchecking from the Aces forwards. After two periods of play, neither team had scored. With four minutes left in the third period, Madison Smith broke out of the crowd, tore down the ice, and netted a wide-angle shot to put the Aces on the board. Stratford held off the London team for the remainder of the game to pull off the win. Skyler Stockie recorded the shut-out for Stratford.
Stratford will now meet Cambridge in the first round of playoffs.
