On Sunday morning the Stratford Cooper
Standard Bantam B aces were off to Clinton to face the West Huron Wave.
It looked like the first period would end in a scoreless draw. With 40 seconds left on the clock Jessica Blowes found Abby Debus at the blue line. Debus’ blast got to the back of the net in a hurry to put the Aces ahead.
Stratford added 3 markers in the second period. Madi McKinley scored on a pretty 2 on 1 rush with Joanna Van De Walle. Van De Walle then scored a goal of her own, assisted by Shayla Brooks, after a goal-mouth scrum. Finally, Debus fired a bullet pass across the goal crease that Katie Berg redirected into the back of the South Huron net.
The rink looked tilted for the last half of this game so some interesting line shuffling took place. Stratford still carried the play but South Huron was able to collect the only goal of the third period. Goaltender Sommer English’s bid for 2 consecutive shutouts ended with only 2:39 left in the game but she still earned a 4 to 1 win.
The Aces have now played all 3 of their road games in a 6 game round robin playdown to earn a trip to Provincials in April. Their road record of 2 wins and a tie earned them 5 of a possible 6 points on the road. Next weekend the playdowns continue with home games against both Mitchell and South Huron.