The Westlock Midget Warriors scored back-to-back weekend wins, downing the Battle River Knights and New Sarepta.
The Tier 2 Knights were kept off the scoreboard and in penalty box at the Rotary Spirit Centre Nov. 24, clocking 120 penalty minutes to the Warriors 90 minutes in the Northern Alberta Interlock League game.
Warriors assistant coach Braden Conquergood said the players did what they needed to do to score a 3-0 win. The club hit the road Saturday and scored a 4-2 victory in New Sarepta.
“We’ve been working on break out and power play a lot because we tend to see we are short handed fairly often,” he said.
“We tend to work on the penalty kill quite a bit too, and I was pretty happy and satisfied with that. And we did get the opportunity to go on the power play. I was very impressed with the way they were taking our drills and putting them into concept on the ice.”
On the other hand, the Warriors seemed to forget the message that their coaches drilled into them all season, to keep it clean.
“Our biggest goal that we mentioned to the boys when we first started was to stay out of all that stuff, which didn’t happen because retaliation is one the things you cannot unteach,” Conquergood said.
“It becomes difficult. Midget players are in that age where it’s built up energy, so when they get that towards them they feel they have to give it back. That’s one thing they have to keep under control, but it gets a little difficult.”
Coming back from a two-week break, the players were amped up to get back into it and take on their first game against Battle River.
Conquergood predicted the Nov. 25 game against New Sarepta would be a bit challenging with the bench being short due to Friday’s game and other reasons.
However, that didn’t seem to cause too much trouble as the Warriors finished with a two-goal win.
“We’re a strong team, we tend to come together when we need to,” he said.
The Warriors are gearing up for the 13th annual Gord Smith Memorial midget tournament at the Spirit Centre Dec. 1-3.
With 10 games over three days and teams from Vermilion, St. Paul, Spruce Grove, Slave Lake, and Barrhead, the Warriors will kick things off with a tournament opener game against Barrhead and then take on Slave Lake Saturday night.
“It’s always mellow and people tend to relax,” Conquergood said. “We’ve had lots of compliments in the past and just excited to host another one.
“It’s a great experience for the teams that come and it’s a good bonding experience for our boys to all be in the facility and work together. As well for the parents, it’s a fantastic experience.”
