Westlock’s Bantam Warriors can now savour the sweet flavour of victory after a golden performance at the provincial ‘C’ championship tournament March 15-18 in Drumheller.
The Warriors started off on the right note and coasted through the round robin and semifinals, which took them to the finals where they were crowned champions following a 2-0 victory over Duchess Sunday night.
“It feels good, it feels really good,” said coach Paul Olsen Sunday, who took a lot of the same boys to provincials two years ago, only to come home with silver. “As coaches, we kind of made a commitment to win provincials this year and we’ve been talking about it with the kids since the first practice. This was a goal for us this year. There’s been too many silvers for Westlock.”
The Warriors started down the road to gold March 15 with a 6-1 win over Beaverlodge.
Thomas Oloske opened the scoring for Westlock with a goal five minutes into the opening period, on an assist from Jaxon Sigurdur. Then Cole Beaver added another before the end of the frame on a helper from Reid Schmidt.
Westlock continued to shine into the middle period, pulling ahead 4-0 on goals from Beaver, assisted by Sigurdur and Carter Gerig, and by Jonah Bennett, with a helper from Beaver.
Beaverlodge did manage to score their one goal before the end of the second, but Westlock came out strong once again in the third.
Schmidt scored to make it 5-1, with an assist from Sigurdur, then Jonathen Servage scored the Warriors sixth goal, from Seth Fairholm, for the decisive 6-1 win.
“We just came out and played hard together. Our goalie stood on his head. We peppered the net with shots and everyone played well,” said Olsen. “I’ve got such a variety of talent on this team and so much different talent that everybody has something they’re good at. If everyone is on their game and contributing where they can, we rock and roll.”
On March 16, the bantams laced up their skates for their second game against New Sarepta and once again came out on top with a big 6-2 victory.
Bennett opened the scoring halfway through the first period, on a helper from Servage. Beaver then put the Warriors up by two, on assists from Schmidt and Kasyn Pipke.
New Sarepta did put one past the Warriors goaltender John Ziese to make it a 2-1 game heading into the second.
Westlock scored again to open the second with a goal by Zaydin Nyuli and assists by Kadin Chamzuk and Dylan Biddiscombe, but new Sarepta responded with a goal of their own to make it 3-2.
The two teams traded penalties for the rest of the middle frame, including a 10-minute misconduct for Oloske for checking from behind.
That didn’t phase Westlock though as they once again opened the scoring early in the final period as Bennett tallied on helpers from Servage and Fairholm. Schmidt then scored unassisted and Evan Brost put the final nail in the coffin of the New Sarepta team, with assists from Justin Bondy-Jennings and Schmidt.
The Warriors went on to face the hosts Drumheller in their final game of the round robin March 17, but dropped the tilt 3-1. They were shut out until 5:06 of the third, when Bennett scored their lone goal.
“We got the puck to the net, but we wouldn’t finish the deal. Their goalie was phenomenal,” said Olsen. “They had awesome support in the back end. He was just on his game, he played very well.”
The club’s 2-1 record throughout the round robin was enough to tie for first in the pool and lead them into the semifinal March 18 where they took on the CNN Spurs, beating the team from Bon Accord 5-1.
Westlock scored early in the first on a goal by Evan Brost, with assists from Bennett and Schmidt, and didn’t look back, taking a 4-0 lead into the second.
Subsequent goals were scored by Bennett (from Sigurdur and Beaver), Bennett (from Brost and Schmidt) and AJ Balderston (from Pipke and Beaver).
CNN managed their lone goal with seconds left in the second period, but it wasn’t near enough as Oloske scored the Warriors fifth goal in the third to make for a 5-1 final score, sending the bantams into the tournament final against Duchess to compete for the ‘C’ banner.
“If we play like we can, we will be fine,” said Olsen an hour before the championship game. “We just have to play a full 60 minutes. There’s some good competition here and we’ve seen throughout the weekend that if you’re on your game, it’s anyone’s game.”
The Warriors were on their game and shutdown the previously undefeated Duchess squad in the final, scoring two goals in the first and never looking back.
Fairholm scored the first with an assist from Jespersen and Nyuli scored the insurance marker on a pass from Balderston and Servage. Ziese turned aside 24 shots for the shutout win and the championship.
And the Warriors aren’t done for the year just yet. There is still another banner up for grabs as they are heading into the final round of the Tier 1 1660 Bantam Hockey League playoffs, which start March 22 at the Rotary Spirit Centre.
