Westlock athletes were golden in all forms of sport last year, bringing home medals in hockey, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and swimming.
No. 1 - Bantams are the best
The Westlock Bantam Warriors brought home a couple banners in 2018, celebrating both provincial and league victories.
After a stellar season, the team travelled to Drumheller for the ‘C’ provincial championships March 15-18 and claimed the title after posting a 4-1 record.
Westlock defeated Duchess in the final 2-0 with goaltender John Zeise turning away 24 shots for the shutout.
But the boys weren’t done yet.
The very next weekend, March 22-24, the club capped their historic season by taking the 1660 Hockey League Tier 1 Bantam banner on home ice at the Rotary Spirit Centre, defeating the Stony Plain Predators 2-1 in the three-game series.
After losing the first game, the Warriors stormed back to take the next two games and the 2018 title.
“It feels pretty good. We worked really hard so I think we earned it,” said alternate captain Jonah Bennett.
“We really had to dig deep for this one,” added Reid Schmidt. “We got a bit nervous, but we pulled through with hard work.”
No. 2 - Midget Warriors and Rock golden
Westlock teams celebrated golden victories both on the ice and concrete in 2018.
The Westlock Midget Warriors gave fans at the Rotary Spirit Centre a reason to cheer, taking the 1660 Hockey League Tier 2 Midget championship after a tight three game series Mar. 19-21 against Wetaskiwin. Each game of the series was decided by a single goal.
“They were keeping the guys out from in front of the net and they were getting the puck out of the zone. Forechecking and back-checking, they really helped me out with that. We put pressure on them for the whole game and we didn’t let off,” said goaltender Shawn Dopson, who turned away 40 of 41 shots in the final game.
Fast forward to July at the Rotary Spirit Centre as the midget girls Rock lacrosse team were hard at work earning league gold of their own.
The Rock’s quest for gold came down to a July 11 final matchup with rivals the Sherwood Park Titans in Beaumont, which the girls won 7-4 to become Greater Edmonton Lacrosse Council midget champions.
Head coach Denise Boulerice emphasized it was a team win, but heaped praise on goaltender Paige Brill.
“She was just a wall the last three games,” said Boulerice.
“We were outshot all week and she came up with big, big saves. She was the best goalie in the league — everyone’s saying that.”
No. 3 - Rottier retires
Simeon Rottier, a long-time Westlock-area football hero, hung up his helmet this year after compounding knee injuries forced him to retire before the Edmonton Eskimos training camp kicked off May 20.
“This would have been year 10, so it was a tough decision. The knee was physically not where I needed it to be, so I’m taking a step back at this point,” said Rottier following his retirement announcement May 16.
The six-foot-six-inch, 290-pounder logged 124 CFL games — 70 with the Eskimos — playing guard and centre in nine years in the Canadian Football League, first joining the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 2008 as the first overall draft pick — the first ever from the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
Winning the 103rd Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos, Rottier was named 2014 West Division and CFL All-Star, as well as the Eskimos Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman.
No. 4 - T-Bird grads hit the big time
Two members of the Westlock Thunderbirds football club took their game to new levels after Barrhead’s Tristin Gross was named to both Team Alberta for the July 16-22 Football Canada Cup in Calgary, helping the team win silver, and then joining his teammate Aiden Walker from Westlock for a game of scrimmage at the Nissan Kickoff Project, showcasing the best players in the country.
Both edged out hundreds of applicants from football schools across Canada to earn the honour, which took place Nov. 24 in the lead-up to the Grey Cup.
“I’m looking forward to spending the weekend with Tristin and playing some football. I’m hoping to make him look silly, that’s all I really want to do,” joked Walker at the time. “Playing against some of the best players in Canada is going to be really exciting.”
Both players graduated and are looking to have a future in the sport.
No. 5 - Golden achievements
Westlock athletes brought home a lot of gold at sports events throughout Alberta and Canada in 2018.
Not including the dozens of medals won by local school teams throughout the year— which are far too many to list — individual athletes made their presence known at major tournaments throughout the nation.
Ranging from Zach Basisty winning gold at the Canadian Lacrosse Association’s 2018 Midget Box Lacrosse National Tournament in Calgary to Meadow MacDonald and Payton Shank winning provincials with the Calahoo Erins U-16 softball team in July, there was no shortage of triumph in town.
They were joined on the podium by the Westlock U-16 Wild Bantam ‘A’ boys baseball club, who won their league final in Thorsby late-June, winning the tournament for their teammate who was in a battle against cancer at the time. They were joined by the under-16 bantam girls and under-14 pee wee girls, who also took gold after big wins.
In March, Andrea Nickerson won a gold medal at the Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s 2018 Junior National Championship in Quebec.
Westlock Gators Renko Wepener won a gold in June at the Westlock Aquatic Centre for his accumulative time in the fly stroke, breaststroke and freestyle swims and several more throughout the swimming season.
Clyde Gullion of Westlock Family Taekwondo won a gold for his Poomsae demonstration in February, and Westlock’s Garin Butler took the top spot the 2018 International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF) World Junior Ball Hockey Championships in St. John’s, Nfld., after standing out among 24,000 potential candidates for a spot on Team Canada.
