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Marathon weekend for midget Warriors

It was a bumpy weekend for the Westlock Might Warriors, who went 1-2 in the next-to-last weekend before the Christmas break The Warriors opened with a 10-1 Rotary Spirit Centre loss to Wetaskiwin Icemen Dec.
Westlock’s Addison Weir attempts to backhand a shot while teammate James Oloske drives the net during a 5-4 loss to the Camrose Axemen at the Rotary Spirit Centre Dec. 16.
Westlock’s Addison Weir attempts to backhand a shot while teammate James Oloske drives the net during a 5-4 loss to the Camrose Axemen at the Rotary Spirit Centre Dec. 16.

It was a bumpy weekend for the Westlock Might Warriors, who went 1-2 in the next-to-last weekend before the Christmas break

The Warriors opened with a 10-1 Rotary Spirit Centre loss to Wetaskiwin Icemen Dec. 15 before falling 5-4 to the Camrose Axemen the next night at home. The boys wrapped the weekend with a 5-3 road win over the Ponoka Wolves Dec. 17.

With the three games in the can, the Warriors now sit with a 6-4 record in the 1660 Hockey League.

During the Dec. 16 game against Camrose, the Warriors got caught off guard in the first period when Camrose opened the scoring. The two teams battle backed and forth before Camrose put two more on the board in the last minute of the first period.

Things didn’t improve for Westlock in the second period. While the Warriors held the Axemen scoreless for most of the frame, the Axemen got a lucky break with two minutes left in the to make it a 4-0.

Finally, with one minute left in the second, Chase Jennings lobbed a pass up to Addison Weir, who blasted it home to make it 4-1.

The Warriors turned on the heat in the third, swarming the Axemen. The effort eventually paid off when Kestyn Dutchak passed the puck to Zaidyn Pipke to score a second goal with 10 minutes to spare.

Camrose managed to net their fifth a few moments later, but the Warriors kept coming.

In the dying minutes, Pipke scored an unassisted goal, which was quickly followed by a zinger by Ryley Booth courtesy of Joshua Reagan to cut the deficit to one. The Axemen took a slashing penalty with 2:05 left in the game, prompting the Warriors to pull their goaltender and leaving the audience at the edge of their seats.

However, the Warriors couldn’t find the equalizer and the game ended 5-4.

Coach Rick Dutchak said it would have been nice to win, but he was happy with where his team was at this point in the season.

“We just started slow,” he said. “We knew we had to come out with a better start, but we played a good third. If we played like that in the first, we would have been on the other end of it for sure.”

The club wraps the 2017 portion of their schedule versus the Strathcona Warriors Dec. 22 in Ardrossan. Following that the Warriors will be back on home ice Jan. 6 to host the Jasper Bearcats.

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