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Warriors score bronze at Gord Smith tourney

The Westlock Warriors midget team claimed bronze during a weekend of extremes as they hosted the 12th annual Gord Smith Memorial tournament at the Rotary Spirit Centre. The tourney, which ran Dec.
Midget Warriors’ Addison Weir chases a rebound off Wembley Wildcats goaltender Ian Brix during their first game of the 12th annual Gord Smith Memorial tournament Dec. 3 at
Midget Warriors’ Addison Weir chases a rebound off Wembley Wildcats goaltender Ian Brix during their first game of the 12th annual Gord Smith Memorial tournament Dec. 3 at the Rotary Spirit Centre. The Warriors wound up finishing third with a record of 1-1-1.

The Westlock Warriors midget team claimed bronze during a weekend of extremes as they hosted the 12th annual Gord Smith Memorial tournament at the Rotary Spirit Centre.

The tourney, which ran Dec. 3-4, featured a 12-0 blowout win over the Wembley Wildcats and a 7-0 elimination loss against the Fort St. John Flyers. The team also tied with the Whitecourt Wolverines 7-7 during the event, which is separate from the 1660 Hockey League they normally compete in.

“The tournament went great,” said assistant coach Braden Conquergood. “We had a huge amount of parent input, which is absolutely fantastic. Hundreds of hours went into organizing this. We’re getting lots of positive comments back.”

The event is named after long-time tournament organizer and coach Gordon Smith, who was a champion of local minor sports throughout his life.

The Warriors, who were the 2015 champions of the tournament, started the draw with a crushing victory against the Wildcats with Ben Carlson opening the scoring for Westlock less than 30 seconds into the game.

The Warriors conquest of Wembly continued when Braydie Teszeri put a goal past Wildcat Ian Brix two minutes later, which was quickly followed by a third goal by team captain Levi Cohoe.

“They weren’t as strong as a team as the other ones,” said Cohoe. “We have to go out there every game, don’t take people lightly.”

The blowout continued with another four goals in the first period alone, with James Oloske knocking two into the net and assistant captain Isaiah Blanchette and Addison Weir each sharing a goal before the buzzer sounded.

Weir would go on to earn a hat trick in the second period as the Warriors marched to a 12-0 victory, despite clocking 40 minutes in penalties during the battle.

“We’re usually pretty feisty out there,” said Cohoe. “We like to grind.”

The club’s second match versus the Whitecourt Wolverines on Saturday evening was much closer.

The two teams matched each other’s goals and intensity, ending the tilt in a 7-7 tie.

Whitecourt had the greater amount of points going into the playoff and placed first, forcing the Warriors to meet the Fort St. John Flyers in the semifinal the next morning.

However, a totally different team came out to play that morning, as the Warriors were unable to generate the needed offense against the Flyers.

Warriors’ goaltender Robert Zeise managed to keep the net puck-free for the first eight minutes, but eventually the Flyers found a hole in the Warriors defence.

“We definitely got beat by a better team today,” said Conquergood. “We just didn’t show up to play today. I don’t know what happened there, our team is very solid normally.”

The Warriors are putting the loss behind them, however. Conquergood pointed out that there was still the rest of the season to get through, and there were plenty of positives to pull out of the tournament.

“The best hockey players are the ones who forget,” said Conquergood. “We have to forget what happened here, take it as it is and play the next game as if we’re starting over again. That’s the nice thing about hockey; we start from scratch and get to move on. Our team is starting to develop well with each other.”

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