The Westlock Senior ‘AA’ Warriors battled hard against the Edson Ice in their first game following a three-week break Jan. 7 at the Rotary Spirit Centre.
The Warriors lost 4-3, leaving them in ninth place in the North Central Hockey League with nine points.
“Short of 10 minutes of that game, we carried the whole game,” said head coach Jonathan Cuneo.
“We outshot them, we outplayed them, we outworked them and I think their goaltender played phenomenal and really didn’t give us much to work with, but definitely a tough one to come off break.”
Although Edson were only seventh in the standings, they came out strong in Saturday night’s game, taking two goals five minutes into the first period.
The Warriors had trouble finding their legs for the first 10 minutes, which left them down 3-0 at the end of the first.
Once the second period rolled around, the Warriors brushed off the rust. The guys kept pace with the Ice, but Edson’s Zac Thompson nailed the fourth goal while shorthanded, putting them ahead 4-0.
With less than three minutes left in the second, Warrior’s Brady Ducharme came back and scored the club’s first goal of the game with an assist from Mike Ivey.
In the third, the Warriors came out hard, with Kobe Waldner netting the second goal three minutes in, with assists from Josh Kaliel and Zac Schram.
The Warriors pounded back with 67 shots on net and snuck in a third goal by Mike Ivey for 4-3 on the board.
With just a few minutes left on the clock, the Warriors took a chance with an open net to try and tie the game. Unfortunately, the clock ran out, notching another loss for Westlock.
“I think we played really well after the first 10 minutes,” said right wing Ryan Nelles.
“I thought we really took it to their goaltender. That’s the only thing that kept them in there, I think.”
“I think we’ve got a more aggressive mindset now,” he added. “We got bigger as the season’s gone on, picking up some guys. It’s given us a more aggressive mindset for sure and that’s helped us a lot getting after teams and not backing down later on in games.”
With a 4-11-0-1 record, the club plays host to Morinville Jan. 13 and Bonnyville Jan. 14 at the Spirit Centre.
