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The Warriors lost a close 5-3 game to the York Lions on Friday night. The Lions opened the game by taking one penalty after another, totalling four separate penalties by the six minute mark. The Warriors could not take advantage of the early 5-on-3 powerplay and that would eventually come back to haunt them. The best chance came off the stick of a York Lion who created a shorthanded breakaway but was unable to put it past Warrior netminder Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener, Ont.).
York opened the scoring as a point shot by York Lion Kyle Lamb was tipped in front by the captain Jesse Messier. Just 30 seconds later, York extended their lead to 2-0 from an almost identical play, where a point shot by Ben Alavie was tipped by Cassidy Preston who was screening Hartigan.
The remainder of the first period saw the Lions put heavy pressure on the Waterloo forwards, successfully preventing the Warriors from mounting any form of attack in the offensive zone. The Lions added to their lead at 12:43 of the first period with Nate Fleming notching his first goal of the season off a pass from Ryan Kerr.
The Warriors attempted to get a goal back before the end of the first and generated a good chance with three minutes left in the period when the puck was stopped but not covered on the York goal line. A mad scramble ensued, but the Warriors ultimately headed into the dressing room down 3-0.
Waterloo opened the second period on the penalty kill after defenceman Aaron Dileo (Waterloo, Ont.) took a holding penalty in the dying seconds of the first. While killing the penalty, forward Kurt Thorner (St. Thomas, Ont.) blocked a shot and sped past the Lion defender snipping his fourth of the season sliding it through goaltender David Blair's legs.
Ten minutes following the Thorner goal, York forward Mackenzie Micks would try to pass the puck from behind the Waterloo net, only to see it bounce off a skate and right past the unsuspecting Hartigan to restore the three goal lead. Waterloo would counter right off the ensuing faceoff, forcing Blair to make a timely save off the one-timer.
Warriors opened the third period with a lot of jump. Seven minutes into the period, Warriors forward Kyle Schwende (Kitchener, Ont.) won a big faceoff to Thorner who slid the puck over to Kyle Sonnenburg (Waterloo, Ont.) who made no mistake putting his blistering slapshot over the glove of Blair to cut into the York lead.
Just three minutes later the Warriors cut the deficit to just one as Andy Smith (Rosetown, Sask.) showed his speed and skill in his first game with the Warriors. Following a block shot by Smith, he was able to race down the ice, beat his man and slide the puck past Blair's glove hand to give the Warriors life with 10 minutes remaining.
Waterloo would create an offensive flurry down the stretch but Blair and his Lions were able to make big saves and blocks to preserve the lead and Mackenzie Micks sealed the victory with his second of the game and fourth of the season scoring into the empty net.
Hartigan made 27 saves on 31 shots, while Blair finished with 28 saves on the evening.
The second-place Warriors now stand at 3-2-0 on the season and take on the first place Western Mustangs (3-0-1) on Saturday night at the CIF arena. The game can be seen live on the SSN Canada live streaming website.
