The Stratford, Bantam BB, Cooper Standard, Aces brought home silver medals from the 31st, annual, Walter Gretzky tournament in Brantford this past weekend.
Stratford lost a hard fought battle in the championship game against league rival Sarnia Jr. Lady Sting, 2 –1. Game MVP, Liv Charette, who was battling the flu, tied the match early in the first period with a rocket wrist shot over the shoulder of the Sarnia goaltender. Sarnia scored the go ahead and what turned out to be the winning goal early in the second. Despite an aggressive third period attack by the Aces, the Sting was able to hang onto the lead. Grace Fountain and Alicia Young earned assists in Stratford’s only goal. Megan Jackson played solid in net as did Shannon Tinning on defense.
In round robin play Stratford faced off against the Lady Sting, drawing a 1 –1 tie. Alexis Brooks opened the scoring early in the first with an unassisted goal. Goaltender Allya McNeil played exceptionally well, stoning the Sting offence on three breakaways during the match earning her the game MVP. Later in the day, the Aces played the Hamburg Hawks. Despite scoring two first period goals by game MVP Brooks, Stratford lost momentum heading into the second allowing three unanswered goals, eventually succumbing to a 5 –2 loss. Haley Doell had two assists and Brianna Glosnek one. Paige Schweitzer and Tali Calder were both solid on the ice for the Aces. Game three of the round robin saw the Aces defeat the Burlington Barracudas, 4 – 3. Despite being down by two with under eight minutes to go in the third period, Stratford was persistent with full team effort scoring two goals a minute apart to tie the match. Knowing a tie would not advance the team, Stratford opted to go with the extra attacker and it paid off scoring with less than a minute left in the game. Brooks and Glosnek each scored two apiece with assists coming off of the sticks of Alicia Hartung, Avery Casey, Fountain and Brooks. Glosnek who scored the winning goal received the game MVP award. Meghan Achilles had a strong game on forward as did Hannah Bush and Emily Drake on defense.