WESTLOCK - One win down, two more to go.
That’s the mindset for the Westlock Warriors who posted a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Lacombe Generals in Game 3 of their best-of-five North Central Hockey League semifinal series played March 5 in Lacombe. The victory staved off elimination for the club who were down 0-2 after dropping a heart-wrenching 7-6 OT decision in Game 1 Feb. 26, then were blanked at home 2-0 last Sunday, Feb. 27.
Captain Mike Ivey was proud of his club for not packing it in after getting behind in the series against the top-ranked Generals and forcing a Game 4 in Westlock at the Rotary Spirit Centre this coming Friday, March 11, at 8:30 p.m. If the Warriors are able to win that game, the series clincher will be played 24 hours later back at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex in Lacombe. In the other NCHL semifinal series, the Camrose Crush have eliminated the Red Deer Rustlers 3-1.
“It’s a tight series and special teams have been so important. Last Sunday we weren’t able to get a powerplay goal and last night it ended up being the game winner. And after that goal, to be able to shut them down, was really good as defensively we were limiting their chances,” said Ivey, adding they didn’t get back to Westlock until well past midnight. “It was a gritty performance. It feels good to come out of there with a win as I think we deserved it. I’m proud of the group.”
Tyler Kampjes opened the scoring Saturday night with an unassisted marker at 7:47, before the Generals responded with a pair of powerplay goals 46 seconds apart to take a short-lived lead.
Sixty-three seconds later, and with 1:13 to go in the frame, Mathew Peddie netted an unassisted powerplay marker to get the Warriors back to even.
The Generals came out firing in the third, but with just over five minutes to play and the Warriors back on the powerplay, Ivey won the faceoff and pulled it back to Brett Kampjes who got it over to his brother Tyler for the game winner — Tyler was named the game’s first star. Between the pipes, goalie Jordan Brand, who netted second-star honours on the night, turned aside 29 of the 31 shots he faced.
“We want to make it impossible to be eliminated. We’re back in it now and we’ll take it one game at a time,” he said.
Ivey gave kudos to all their fans who packed the RSC last Sunday afternoon and hopes the stands are filled again for what could be their final home game of the season.
“We’re happy to be able to come home to Westlock and we really appreciate all of the support we’ve gotten so far this year,” he said. “It’s nice when you have the community behind you like that.”
