The Westlock Peewee Tier 2 Warriors put in the work against the Tofield Titans last Saturday night, and ended up with a 4-2 win for their efforts.
The win, along with some other strong performances recently, put the Warriors firmly in the Top 3 of their tier and in good position moving forward — something coach Shane Boulerice said he’s expected from the boys.
“Every win right now is important for our team,” he said. “The last couple games we’ve been doing really well.”
Saturday’s match got off to a slow start, with both team remaining scoreless until the Titans managed to slip one past Jayden Vandelagemaat near the end of the second period.
Going into the third trailing 1-0 lit a fire under the Warriors, who hit the ice with a renewed vigour.
Blair Boulerice tied things up six minutes into the third period, but the Titans regained the lead about one minute later.
The Warriors had to work to set up some more scoring opportunities, with the payoff coming when Sheldon McCoy scored another tying goal with just under seven minutes left.
Boulerice put another one past the Titans with just four minutes left to claim the lead for the first time in the game, then Jaden Senkoe found the empty net to solidify the win.
The real highlight of the match, though, was the performance in the Warriors’ net.
“Our goalie’s the reason we’ve been winning these close games,” he said.
“He stopped 45 shots today, so I want to give him some real accolades.”
If there was a weakness the Warriors showed on Saturday, however, Boulerice said it was a lack of intensity.
“For some reason our intensity wasn’t there today,” he said. “I thought we played well but for some reason lacked that intensity.”
Nonetheless, this most recent in a series of wins has shown that these Warriors have what it takes to compete at the Tier 2 level.
“I think we’re on our way to where we want to be,” he said. “The boys are learning how to play in Tier 2.”
