It has been a long season for Westlock’s minor hockey teams, but four of them will continue to play this month as they defeated all comers in zone playdowns and punched their tickets to their respective provincial championship tournaments.
Two atoms teams, the bantams and the midget Warriors were all dominant during zones, outplaying and outscoring their opponents by hefty margins. Both atoms teams, in fact, went undefeated during their playdowns, which took place over January and February.
“As an association, four of our teams are going to provincials, which is rare. We’re pretty happy. I don’t know if we’ve ever sent that many teams in one year,” said midgets coach Rick Dutchak, who is also president of the Westlock Minor Hockey Association.
“Considering that we entered five teams this year, four is pretty good. I don’t remember ever sending more than two. That shows that we can make it at multiple levels and shows we’re strong all the way through. We’ve got a good base of players.”
On Jan. 20, the atom 1 Warriors travelled to Drayton Valley and scored an 8-3 win, then returned home to the Rotary Spirit Centre Jan. 25 to wrap up the two-game, total-goals series with a 10-3 win.
Hinton visited the atoms next on Feb. 4, only to head home with an 11-1 loss to the Warriors. Because the point spread was more than 10, Game 2 was not necessary.
In the zone finals against Barrhead, the Warriors sealed their trip to the provincial ‘B’ championships in Beaverlodge March 15-18 with a 7-4 win at home on Feb. 24 and a 7-2 road victory in Barrhead Feb. 27.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve overachieved, but we’ve certainly been stronger than anticipated going into the year,” said coach Dave Wilejto.
“We have a real solid group of kids, the work ethic has been phenomenal and at this age I would say that’s why we’re easily No. 1 in the league.
“They’ve really bought into the team concept and defensively they were strong.”
The atoms 2 Warriors will play at the provincial ‘C’ championship tournament, in Spirit River March 15-18, with an undefeated record during zone playdowns.
The Warriors made short work of the Drayton Valley 3A team, taking the first game Jan. 20 by a 12-2 score. Not only did they not have to play a second game due to the 10-goal spread, they also received a bye into the third round.
If the atoms were rusty with a three-week break it didn’t show as they beat the Pembina 1 team 6-2 on Feb. 12 and 9-0 in the second game Feb. 19.
The zone finals took place Feb. 27-28 and the atoms were just too much for the Barrhead 2 team to handle as the Warriors defeated them handily with 6-2 and 6-0 victories.
“The season was pretty good overall I’d say. It depends on the day, but for the most part the kids have been pretty good all year. They’re starting to come together a little more lately,” said coach Jeff Lorimer.
“Earlier on they were trying to do too much on their own and now it seems that we’re working together more as a team and using each other, which is good to see.”
“I’m just happy with the way the team has bonded and how we get along and we’re looking forward to playing against some stiffer competition.”
The fact that two atoms teams are advancing to the championship certainly bodes well for the future of minor hockey in Westlock, said Dutchak.
“It shows that we have a good base of players and that we can compete at each level. Our program has been lucky to have good coaches and player retention.”
The bantam Warriors have also had a lot of success this season and will play in a ‘C’ provincial title in Drumheller March 15-18.
The started their zone playdowns with dominating 10-0 wins over the Hinton 1 team Jan. 19 and the Edson 2 team Feb. 3.
The St. Albert 3A team was next on the schedule of competitors and fell 8-1 in the first game Feb. 16 and 8-2 to the Warriors in the second game the next day.
Westlock faced off against the Drayton Valley 1 club for the zone banner Feb. 21 and came away with an win in 8-5 in Game 1.
Game 2, on Feb. 27, was a different story as the Warriors were outscored 5-4, but won the series by a 12-9 margin.
“They’ve really come together well and it’s going good. We’re really looking forward to provincials and the boys are excited,” said coach Paul Olsen.
“We have a group of kids with a variety of skill levels and when we work as a team we are successful. We work hard as a team, we play hard as a team and that’s realistically the only way that we will be successful at provincial play downs,” he said.
The midget Warriors had a similar run through zones and were only defeated once in the seven games they played.
On Jan. 21, the midgets opened their zone play downs with a definitive 10-0 win against the Pembina 1 squad, which qualified them for the next round.
The CR Knights were next on the list as the Warriors defeated them 4-2 on Feb. 1 at the Rotary Spirit Centre and again on the road Feb. 11 by a score of 5-1.
The Hinton 1 club hosted the midgets on Feb 17, but came out on the losing end as the Warriors breezed by them 5-1 in the first game and then again in Westlock on Feb. 19 by a score of 8-1.
The zone finals against the Spruce Grove 3 team were a lot closer than the midgets were used to though. Westlock dropped the first game at home 3-2 but came back to win Game 2 3-1 and the series with a combined two-game score of 5-4.
“That was our toughest series. A couple of those teams got byes, but we ended up playing all four rounds. We managed to squeak through there though, so we’ll go on to Rimbey for the provincial championship,” said Dutchak.
The midget Warriors travel to Rimbey for the ‘C’ provincial championship tournament March 22-25.
