Pee wee Warriors advance

The Westlock Pee Wee Warriors have advanced to the second round of provincials.

The Warriors defeated Edson 10-6 - 14-11 over two games - at the Rotary Spirit Centre Jan. 27 to cap the first round of zone playoffs and followed that up with a regular season 3-3 tie against the Wetaskiwin Lions Jan. 29.

'I felt like I had the game on my stick," said Thomas Oloske, who celebrated his 13th birthday with a goal and two assists. 'Our last provincial game was actually pretty close. It was pretty exciting."

The Warriors will now have a break until entering round two of provincials mid-to-late February, although they're waiting on their opponents so the game has yet to be scheduled.

Warriors head coach Nelson Jespersen said the team has earned the break.

'We played a really good game," said Jespersen.

'We had good pressure, lots of shots. Their goalie was good. At this time of the year, every game we've got to get better and better."

Things got heated in the first period against Wetaskiwin when Cory Nestorvich took a feed from Thomas Oloske and Blake Olsen to make it 1-0 just over 10 minutes in. Wetaskiwin made things interesting late in the first period, scoring a pair of goals in less than 10 seconds and ending the first 2-1.

Oloske curbed Wetaskiwin's enthusiasm with a goal early in the second period off a pass from Ryker MacPherson. He returned the favour three minutes later, linking a pass from Mason Beattie to MacPherson who snuck it past Wetaskiwin to take a 3-2 lead.

'My team let me skate up and down the ice," said Oloske. 'It was pretty good."

Wetaskiwin managed to net one more goal and the two teen titans held each other in check for the remainder of the game.

Oloske said the team was already looking forward to their next battle and was working on improving their systems and teamwork.

'We need to pass the puck harder, play like a team and not like individuals," he said.