Hard work and determination paid off for the Westlock Senior ‘AA’ Warriors who came back from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Devon Barons 4-3 in overtime.
With the Dec. 2 road win, the Warriors are 2-5-0 in the North Central Hockey League and manager Joe Kuhar figures they’ve finally found the winning secret.
“We focused on defense-first this time,” he said.
“Both our forwards and defencemen were solid, so we were able to move the puck out of our end and get some two-on-one rushes that we were able to capitalize on. We just kept on them hard and wore them down.”
The Warriors were up 2-0 early in the second period after Philip Ferenac took a pass from Zac Schram and Mike Ivey, which was quickly followed by a zinger from Brett Bujold courtesy of Nathan Brown.
However, the Barons didn’t quit and netted a goal before the end of the second and then took the lead with two quick third-period goals early.
Kuhar noted the Warriors had seen this scenario play out before.
“We dominated the game, so to be behind was a little rough,” he said. “The guys knew they could do more than that.”
Sure enough, the Warriors kept their heads and with six minutes remaining in the third, Taylor Heck scored on a pass from Mike Podruzny and Karmen Ward to tie the game 3-3.
Ivey sealed the deal halfway through OT off a pass from Ryan Nelles to score their second win of the season.
“It was a long overdue win as our guys have worked hard all year,” said Kuhar.
“There were just a couple of minutes in the last couple of games that took us out of it, but here we played a full 60 minutes, which really was the difference.
“That was the part of the game we needed to get better at.”
Kuhar said the plan for the Warriors is to try to keep the momentum going into their next game, a Dec. 16 road tilt against the first-place Eckville Eagles.
“They’re a strong team and have very strong goaltending,” he said. “So it’s going to be key that when we get our chances to put the goals past their goalie. That will be the difference maker for sure.”
He added that the shot of confidence the Warriors have from the victory over Devon will serve the team well going forward. Following that game the club won’t hit the ice again until a Jan. 5 Rotary Spirit matchup versus Daysland.
“It’s refreshing to have a win under our belt,” said Kuhar. “The guys know they can get it done now.”
