The Westlock Sabres ruled the seventh annual Gord Smith Memorial Midget Tournament hosted at Jubilee Arena over the weekend.
The Sabres beat the Meadow Lake Storm 6-5 in overtime in the final, ending the game with just 35 seconds left on the clock.
“It was a good win,” said coach Jeff Copeland. “They played hard and they finished strong.”
The Sabres had an early lead, up 3-0 heading into the second period, but the Storm were able to rattle off two goals early into the second period with another going past goalie Colin Decker with eight minutes on the clock to tie the game 3-3.
The tie was short lived, however, as Westlock’s Chase Rau sunk a puck in the net to give the Sabres a 4-3 lead heading into the third period.
Halfway through the third, Westlock’s Cameron Teske scored another goal, giving the Sabres a 5-3 advantage. The Storm picked up the pace and was able to score two goals, taking the game into overtime.
The Sabres were short-handed for majority of the OT, but despite being down a player, the Sabres came out strong with Rau scoring the game-winning goal with just seconds left on the clock.
He said the Storm put up a good fight and challenged the Sabres, which hadn’t been done throughout the rest of the tournament.
“I would have liked to see some things different, some players play a little bit differently, but all in all, to get a win is always good,” said Copeland, adding that penalties were his major concern throughout the tournament.
Four teams faced off against one another in the two-day event and it was no surprise to Sabres assistant coach Dan Mayowski, even before the gold-medal game, that Westlock would take top spot.
“After seeing today’s performance, I would say that it looks like Westlock will finish on top, but I didn’t want to jinx it,” he said.
Heading into the finals, both Westlock and Meadow Lake had two wins on the board.
“They didn’t really know what to expect; they’d never played Meadow Lake,” Copeland said. “Meadow Lake was at our tournament last year and did very well but we weren’t sure what to expect.”
Westlock crushed the Athabasca Hawks 7-3 in the tourney opener while Meadow Lake narrowly beat Edmonton’s Knights of Columbus Sabres 7-6. Meadow Lake’s second game was a 7-1 win over the Hawks, while Westlock dominated the ice in Saturday night’s 11-2 victory against Edmonton.
Edmonton and Athabasca faced off in the bronze-medal game where Edmonton won 8-7 in a six-player shoot-out.
The Gord Smith Memorial Midget Tournament honours the life of Gord Smith, who used to organize a similar tournament when his children were midget age.
“Gord Smith was a well-known member of the community and a life-long supporter of minor sports in Westlock and area so in memory of him, we’re hosting this tournament,” Mayowski said.
