The Westlock Midget Warriors finished the 2016 portion of their Tier 3 1660 Midget Hockey League season with a three-game weekend that saw them go 2-1 and improve to 3-7 on the year.
“They played hard, I don’t mind losing if they play hard,” said head coach Rick Dutchak following the club’s Dec. 16 7-5 loss to Smoky Lake.
“We talked about that before the game, that they have to put in the work ethic. They worked hard, so I’m happy with that.”
The Warriors started their marathon weekend at home, hosting the Smoky Lake Northstars in a penalty-laden slugfest that ended in a 7-5 loss and 20 minutes of penalties for each team.
“There’s a long history of this team, they’re usually leading the league in penalty minutes,” said Dutchak of the Northstars.
“It’s pretty normal. For this to be a half-sane game is actually pretty good. These guys are not always here to play hockey, they’re here to be rough and brawl.”
The game was scoreless until the Warriors scored five minutes into the second period when Isiaiah Blanchette took a pass from Ryley Booth and put it past Northstars goalie Cam Chern. The Northstars quickly answered back, when Justin Powicappo snuck a goal past the Warriors’ Robert Zeise.
The teams continued to trade goals, with the Northstars Parker Palichuk scoring with just under nine minutes into the second, which was quickly answered back by the Warriors’ Ryan Hoogewoonink scoring an unassisted goal to tie the game.
However, the Northstars were able to close the period with a late goal by Powicappo with three minutes left in the second.
Things got ugly in the third. The Northstars’ Palichuk snuck a goal in the first two minutes of the third and Tristan Bourque added a second one for Smoky Lake two minutes later before the Warriors answered back with a screamer from Braydie Teszeri, courtesy of Hoogewoonink and Dylan Wolfe.
The Northstars responded two minutes later, with a quick goal by Kierun White which put the score at 6-3 with just 10 minutes left in the game.
A hooking penalty against the Northstars’ Bourque lead to a penalty shot by Teszeri, which he put in the net easily, bringing the Warriors to 6-4.
However, the Warriors were out of time. Powicappo scored another goal with six minutes left in the game to put the Northstars up 7-4. Teszeri scored one last time with 30 seconds left in the game net his hat trick.
“We just are going to forget about the loss,” said Teszeri. “We’re just focusing on the next game now.”
Dutchak added that it was clear where the team needed to focus it’s practices going forward.
“At the end of day, if they’re proud of what they did, that’s what’s important,” sad Dutchak. “The one thing we need to work on is that we’ve got to dominate when we’re on the power play. That’s killing us right now.”
The club’s fortunes improved the next day when they edged Lamont 9-8 on the road — Blanchette netted the game winner with less than a minute to play. On Sunday at home the club skated to an impressive 14-5 victory over Wabasca.
The Warriors will hang up their skates up for the holidays with their next battle on New Year’s Day in a rematch with Lamont. The location of the game has yet to be determined.
