The Westlock Midget ‘AA’ Warriors posted a 3-0 record on their way to capturing the six-team Gord Smith Memorial Tournament.
They capped their perfect weekend at the Rotary Spirit Centre Dec. 2 by defeating the Wainwright Bisons 4-2 in the championship final.
Gord Smith, who was the original organizer of the event and passed away in 2005, was a longtime volunteer, coach and advocate for youth sports.
“It was hard, but fun,” said goaltender John Zeise, who thanked his grandmother for cheering him on. “We just made sure to keep positive and have fun.”
Westlock opened the scoring six minutes into the final when Jonathen Servage and Shay Chapotelle found Jaxson Snow.
Wainwright tied the game five minutes into the second period, but Dawson Petryshen and Reid Schmidt found Addison Weir at the half-way mark to give the club a 2-1 advantage.
A late powerplay goal put Westlock up 3-1 after Schmidt and Weir found Petryshen on a breakaway with 37 seconds left in the frame.
Chapotelle and Weir then found Schmidt 10 minutes into the third period to put Westlock up for good 4-1. The Bisons managed to cut the lead in half with a late goal.
“It was nice to win it on my last year, a great way to cap it off,” said Weir, who gave a shout out to his mother.
“We skated strong, passed, forechecked, everything you need to do to play a good hockey game,” added Hayden Dick.
Opening the tournament the Warriors rolled over the Spruce Grove Bandits 4-1 Nov. 30, then edged the Cochrane Rockies 3-2 Dec. 1 to claim the top seed in the playoffs.
In the semifinal the Warriors again faced the Rockies.
It was back-and-forth battle that ended in a 6-5 victory for the club.
“It feels great, we worked really hard for it and went undefeated all weekend,” said Schmidt.
“It was definitely not easy.”
Head coach Gil Dubrule said he heard good things from the other coaches and players about not only the Rotary Spirit Centre, but the event.
“We got comments from several of the teams that they really enjoyed the facility, saying both it and how tournament was run was a class act,” he said.
“Joanna Schmidt did an unbelievable job organizing everything. Kudos to the parents — you cannot do a tournament like this without the help of parents putting in a bunch of effort.”
The Warriors are back in action Dec. 8 when they host the Bisons.
