Warriors’ Nic Bourgeois looks for an open teammate to pass to during the club’s Jan. 12 5-2 home loss to the Red Deer Rustlers. The club plays in Red Deer and Bonnyville next weekend to close out the regular season.
It’s been a rough start to 2019 for the Senior ‘AA’ Warriors, but the playoff picture is starting to come into focus for the team which lost both games of a two-game home stand last weekend.
The club hosted the top two teams in the North Central Hockey League at the Rotary Spirit Centre Jan. 11-12, dropping the first 4-0 to the Daysland Northstars before returning to the ice 24 hours later and falling 5-2 to the Red Deer Rustlers.
The Warriors are in the middle of the pack, firmly in sixth place in the NCHL with a 7-7-2 record.
They are four points behind Eckville as playoff match-ups begin to take shape.
“We played the top two teams this weekend and we were in both those games,” said head coach and captain Mike Ivey.
The Warriors were shutout against Daysland, but goaltender Jordan Brand saved 53 of the 57 shots he faced.
It was a 1-0 game into the third period, but Daysland broke through in the third, scoring three more unanswered goals for the 4-0 win.
Likewise, the next night against the Rustlers — the Warriors were up 2-1 going into the second and down 3-2 going into the third before allowing two more goals in the third period, which sealed their fate.
“The wheels kind of fell off in the third,” said Ivey of his team’s play late in the Red Deer game. “We were short staffed. We only had three lines out of four and four defencemen so it was a little tougher just to maintain it in the third period.”
Goaltender Graeme Harrington turned aside 20 of 25 shots against Red Deer, while Ryan Nelles and Corey Mercier scored Westlock’s two goals in the first period.
“Red Deer will be a tough team for anybody who faces them in the playoffs,” said Ivey.
The Warriors will take to the road next weekend, travelling to Red Deer to once again play the Rustlers Jan. 19, then taking on the Bonnyville Pontiacs Jan. 20 in a make-up game for their final clash of the regular season.
The top eight teams in the league will face off in the playoffs in the coming weeks, with first place playing eighth place, second playing seventh, third playing sixth and fourth playing fifth place.
The Warriors are guaranteed a sixth place finish, but could move into fifth with victories in their final two tilts.
