It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the Senior ‘AA’ Warriors.
The club decimated the Slave Lake Winterhawks 13-2 at a North Central Hockey League Game in Westlock Dec. 10, but came home empty-handed on Sunday following a 6-3 defeat in Eckville.
Coming out of Saturday’s home game at the Rotary Spirit Centre, the Warriors seemed to have found their footing in the 14th game of the season.
“The boys really came ready to play tonight,” said head coach Jonathan Cuneo. “I think they really wanted to turn the season around and needed to fix little things, and they did.”
Corey Mercier got the Warriors on the board with the first goal four minutes into the first period, followed shortly by another goal from Gordon Bell.
Slave Lake’s Jesse Auger put his team on the scoreboard 10 minutes in, but as the clock ticked, Warriors Jake Chizma and Taylor Heck each netted goals with less than a minute to spare to close the period up 4-1.
Just 40 seconds into the second period, Warriors’ Moh Rizvi slid the puck in for a fifth goal. Then with less than a minute and half on the clock, Bell got his second goal of the night.
There was no slowing down in the third. The Warriors scored three more before Slake Lake could land their second goal of the game. Westlock kept their foot to the floor and notched four more to make the final 13-2.
“We were dominating the play so that we didn’t need to back off, just keep our foot on the gas,” Cuneo said. “I think (Slave Lake) slowed down a little bit. I think they got tired and were short a bench.”
Indeed, the Warriors wore down their opponents with 59 shots versus Slave Lake’s 13.
Line up changes that featured a fourth line of players that hadn’t seen much dress time this year changed up the team’s chemistry. For Bell, who netted four goals, the combination of lines finally clicked.
“We probably had our best line up of the year,” he said. “We went into the game and I think we took advantage of it. They only had two lines show up for them so we felt that if we kept the shifts short and we played hard, we could wear them down.”
“We had all four lines moving the puck, all four lines communicating, and it really helps out on the scoreboard when that happens.”
However, they weren’t able to carry it into Sunday night’s game in Eckville against the Eagles and fell short 6-3, which brought their season standings to 3-9-0-1.
“We outshot them 40-28, but we couldn’t put the pucks in the net,” said general manager Joe Kuhar. “We carried the play and hooked it back into the net and we played well. We had opportunities; it was ours to win, but we didn’t take it.”
Although the tactics and lineup didn’t change too much in Sunday’s game, Kuhar said Eckville had an advantage by only playing one game over the weekend.
“Coming off a positive big win and turning around and playing right away, it takes a lot of energy, especially for a team that’s fresh,” he said. “Overall, we played a good game and came up short.”
Up next, the Warriors head to Devon Dec. 16 and stay on the road the following night to take on the Rocky Rams in Rocky Mountain House.
“It’s not out of the question that we could get a four-point weekend,” Kuhar said.
