The Westlock Senior ‘AA’ Warriors shutout the Rocky Rams Saturday for their first win of the North Central Hockey League season.
Head coach Jonathan Cuneo gave credit to his players for winning the tough defensive battle. The Nov. 12 home victory elevates the club to 1-6 on the year.
“We stayed back a little bit and we didn’t pressure as much,” he said. “We let the play come to us and played a little more defence so that we wouldn’t get burned as much as we’ve been getting burned.”
The Warriors have been on a seven-game losing streak to open the season, except for a 4-2 lead against the Whitecourt Wild in an incomplete Oct. 30 game that was postponed to Nov. 25 due to poor arena ice conditions in Mayerthorpe.
Since the win, Cuneo said the Warriors will be focusing on defence first.
“There are some teams we know that we can step up more on — we haven’t had success yet — but I think with the line up and guys finally finding a groove, we’ll be able to change a little bit.
“But we’ll definitely stay with this for a few weeks here until we play some of these faster teams that this might not work against.”
Despite the win, the team has areas it will need to tighten, like finishing their scoring chance. Ultimately Cuneo commended the line-up change and new players for their effort, notably goaltender Marcus Johnson.
“He kind of carried us at times tonight, where we may have backed off too much and our leadership group definitely stepped up and kept things in the room at an even keel.”
Johnson deflected the praise and said it was the whole team were responsible for win.
“The boys battled really hard and everyone deserved the outcome, for sure,” he said. “One-nothing games are definitely a full team effort because it’s not going to be just the goalie. Everyone played their part, from top to bottom, so it was nice to see.
“The shutout is not a big deal. I was in it more for the win because we need to get going. We’re a better team than our record shows.”
The Warriors will try to make it back-to-back victories when they face the Devon Barons in Westlock Nov. 18 at 8 p.m.
“It’ll be a good test, so it’s good we got this confidence booster and get it rolling from here on out,” Johnson said.
