It was not the opening weekend the Westlock Warriors were looking for.
Back-to-back losses — an 8-3 away loss to the Morinville Kings Oct. 21 and a 9-1 home-opening defeat to the Bonnyville Pontiacs Oct. 20 — has the club at 0-2 in the North Central Hockey League.
“We’re a little tired of losing,” said head coach Mike Ivey.
“We need to come out hungrier, it’s a short season.”
While the Warriors are still working on putting pucks into the net, they brought the intensity to the rink on both nights.
The team came out swinging against the Pontiacs, put couldn’t find the back of the net.
Hard work paid off early for the team when Karmen Ward managed to bounce a shot off a Pontiacs player to put the Warriors up 1-0 early in the first period.
However, the Pontiacs were able to bounce back near the end of the period on a short-handed drive.
After that, despite of the Warriors matching their opponents, they were unable to translate their efforts into goals. The Pontiacs netted four in the second period and four more in the third.
“It was a great start, but we had a tough second and we never recovered,” said Ivey.
“It’s tough. I think we can play with them, but they’re a pretty good team for sure.
Ivey praised his goaltender Dylen Starman for keeping his composure despite of the onslaught.
“Our goalie played really well, he kept us in it in spite of how many goals went in.”
He noted that the Warriors were doing a lot of things right — the team has a high-speed style and is playing the body hard. They just need to find a way to score goals.
“I like our pressure, but we got away from the second,” he said.
“Hopefully we can find it. We need to change things around and be the team we’re supposed to be.”
The Warriors get this coming weekend off before their next home battle which is slated for Nov. 4 when they’ll host the Whitecourt Wild.
Following that the club will play host to the Kings Nov. 10.
