WESTLOCK - The Westlock Senior Warriors will look to dethrone an all-too familiar foe in Round 1 of the North Central Alberta Hockey playoffs.
The Morinville Kings and Warriors will square off in the opening round best-of-five series this coming weekend, with puck drop in Game 1 slated for 8:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 4, at the Rotary Spirit Centre. Game 2 goes the following night, Feb. 5, in Morinville, while Game 3 is booked for Feb. 12 in Morinville. Game 4, if needed, will be back in Westlock Feb. 19, while Game 5 is tentatively tabbed for Feb. 20 in Morinville.
During the regular season the Kings went 9-4-0-1 to finish third in the league and swept the Warriors, who finished the year in sixth with a 5-8-0-1 record — the Warriors were pasted 9-1 in their regular season finale versus the Camrose Crush played Jan. 29 in Camrose.
Captain Mike Ivey said they’ve already burned the game film from the Camrose debacle that saw goalies Chase Langdale and Jordan Brand peppered by a combined 53 shots — the Warriors lone goal came with 1:55 left on the clock.
“It was an ugly one. We had four or five regulars out of the line up, but that’s no excuse. We wanted it to be a game to build some momentum with, but it was the complete opposite. So we’re going to forget about it very fast and get ready for next weekend,” said Ivey Sunday afternoon.
While the Warriors weren’t able to beat the Kings during the regular season the games were close as the 4-2 loss Dec. 18 in Morinville included an empty-netter, while the Warriors held a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes in their Jan. 14 contest at the RSC, which ended 4-3 in favour of the Kings.
Ivey said they’ll need to ratchet up their physical game versus the high-flying Kings who finished second in league scoring with 74 goals for. The clubs are no strangers to each other in the post-season and have faced off at least, “three or four times in the last five years.”
“We’re excited for the match up and have been gearing up for it for a while. We know they’re talented and can score goals, so we’ll need to shut that down. I hope we can take it to them physically because I think we’re a little bigger and stronger,” said Ivey. “It will be a good series and it’s been a good rivalry for a while now. We’re feeling good going in for sure.”
