The Westlock Midget Warriors were crowned champions of the 11th annual Gord Smith Memorial Midget Tournament on Sunday night following a 4-1 win over the Leduc Roughnecks.
Coach Rick Dutchak said he was proud of his team’s play all weekend.
“Getting to win a tournament at home is something they’ll remember forever,” he said. “It was nice to see.”
Down 1-0 after the first period, the Warriors were able maintain their composure as Leduc got themselves into penalty trouble.
The Warriors capitalized on a five-on-three advantage to knot the score 1-1 on a goal from Spencer Blades.
Minutes later a second power play goal from Scott Watson gave them a 2-1 lead.
“[We said] when things get heated, if we keep our cool, then we’ll be able to draw those penalties and capitalize on them,” said Dutchak.
“We know we have a good power play.”
In the third the Warriors continued their dominance adding a third power play goal on a wrist shot from Adam Hardinge with help from Ryan Craig.
Craig would get one of his own less than a minute later to give the Warriors a comfortable three-goal lead with less than seven minutes to play.
“Once they settled down and got the confidence that they knew they could beat this team, it just snowballed from there.”
Dutchak said his team was able to rally together after two Warriors were sent to hospital mid-game.
“The guys moved around and stepped up where they had to and they pulled through,” he said.
In the semifinal against Strathcona the Warriors took an early 4-1 lead by the end of the first.
Once the Warriors killed a long five-on-three power play they stretched the final score to 7-4 on a penalty shot.
On Saturday, the Warriors steamrolled Lloydminster 19-1.
The three-day Gord Smith Memorial Tournament got underway on Friday night with a matchup between the Warriors and Whitecourt that ended in a 6-6 stalemate.
