The Atom 2 Warriors travelled north to Spirit River March 15-18 in their quest to become provincial champions, but came up just short, losing in the semifinals to Drumheller.
The Warriors opened March 16 against their rivals from New Sarepta. Coby St. Arnaud scored all three goals in a 4-3 loss. Ava Vervynck tallied up an assist on St. Arnaud’s second goal and the other two were unassisted.
The Warriors held the lead 3-1 until the end of the second period when New Sarepta tied the game at three.
The game was decided halfway through the third as New Sarepta scored their fourth goal and Westlock was unable to rally back.
“We were behind the 8-ball in that game, we actually took the lead 3-1 at one point. Even with the way it finished I was pretty proud of the way the kids played because they were a tier ahead of us,” said coach Jeff Lorimer. “It was pretty encouraging.”
Their luck appeared to turn around in their second game of the day though as they racked up a 7-3 win over La Crete.
Ty Meinczinger opened the scoring for the Warriors at 3:40 of the first frame, with an assist from Isaac Edwards, and then extended their lead to two on an unassisted goal by Jaxon Lorimer.
La Crete answered back with a goal of their own, but Westlock scored two more, both by St. Arnaud and both assisted by Blake Boulerice to make it 4-1 after the first period.
La Crete scored their second goal soon after the puck dropped in the second but Westlock answered back with two more. Edwards scored, unassisted, then Boulerice added another with assists from Meinczinger and Vervynck to make it 6-2.
St. Arnaud scored the last goal of the game in the third to finish the La Crete team off, racking up the win for the Warriors, 7-3.
“We just outplayed them,” said Lorimer. “We got the puck deep and did what we needed to do. We got fortunate on a couple of breaks and took it from there.”
The Warriors continued their winning ways in an absolute drubbing of Lethbridge, outscoring them 10-0 and giving goaltender Austin Norton a shutout when it mattered most.
Westlock scored 10 unanswered goals in the first period and took only one penalty throughout the whole game to come out with the decisive win. St. Arnaud and Edwards each had a hat trick with additional goals by Vervynck, Meinczinger, Boulerice and Lorimer, who also had three assists.
“We were just that much stronger,” said Lorimer.
The win brought the Warriors record to 2-1 over the weekend, which ensured them second place in their pool and a berth in the semifinals against Drumheller.
Things did not go their way in that game though as lost 5-1, which eliminated them from the tournament.
It took until the opening seconds of the third period for Edwards to score Westlock’s only goal.
“We started off slow and the other team was really quick and I think with the amount of hockey we’ve played in the last week got to us,” said Lorimer, adding the team has played nine games in the last nine days.
The club’s season isn’t over just yet though as they are still in the 1660 Hockey League playoff finals and will play for that championship this week with games on March 20 in Wetaskiwin and at home on March 24. If necessary, Game 3 will be played March 25 in Wetaskiwin.
“It’s been exciting just to see how much they’ve grown. It has been really encouraging. I’m proud of the way the kids played and came together all year long.”
