The Westlock Midget Sabres are 1660 Tier 3 Midget Hockey League champions following a two-game sweep of Fort Saskatchewan that culminated with an 11-5 win Sunday, March 11 at Jubilee Arena.
And on March 18, the locals nearly made it a clean sweep before losing in the final of the 2012 Provincial Midget ‘D’ Championships held in Millet over the weekend.
Three-straight wins during the round-robin portion of the provincial championship tournament Friday and Saturday — 5-4 over Grimshaw, 3-2 over Pincher Creek and 8-2 over the host Millet Storm — put the Sabres into the semifinals versus the Mallaig Monarchs on Sunday morning.
And as they’d done all weekend long, the Sabres dug down and scored a huge 3-2 victory over the Monarchs to advance to the afternoon final versus the Irma Aces — a club that had also gone undefeated during the tournament.
In the final, Westlock got on the board only 1:51 into the game, but sadly it would be their only lead. The Aces scored five unanswered goals from there on out before Westlock answered late in the third to make it a 5-2 final.
Looking on back on his club’s two-game 1660 final series win over Fort Saskatchewan — Westlock scored 6-3 and 11-5 wins — coach Jeff Copeland said it all came down to penalties … as in the ones his team didn’t take.
The Sabres stayed poised throughout the two-game series, did their talking on the scoreboard and stayed out of the penalty box.
“We only took four penalties in the first playoff game and four penalties in the final game. Staying out of the penalty box helped us get through those games,” said coach Copeland.
In Game 1 versus Fort Saskatchewan played on March 8 in the Fort, goals from Cole Walker and Chase Rau kept Westlock on even footing after the first period.
In the second, the Sabres broke out with markers from Kevin Mayowski and Rau to take a 4-2 lead into the third.
Rau netted his hat trick goal in the third, while Cody Cobler potted an insurance marker to make the final 6-3.
Goalie Breanne Dutchak turned aside 32 of the 35 shots she faced to claim the victory.
In Game 2 played March 11 in Westlock, a pair of first-period goals from Jordan Boulerice, with singles from Brady Maas and Cobler kept the clubs tied 4-4.
In the middle frame, Westlock simply dominated. After falling behind 5-4, the Sabres reeled off four straight and never looked back.
Eric Hardinge netted two in the second, while Boulerice netted his third of the night and Rau added a single.
The final frame was all Westlock as the Sabres struck for three more goals to cap their title. Rounding out the scoresheet with goals were Cam Teske, Mayowski and Boulerice, who had five points on the night.
Dutchak again got the win between the pipes, turning aside 19 shots to post her second-straight ‘W’.
With the team obviously getting its offence on track, Copeland was hopeful they could tighten up defensively heading into provincials. And judging by the club’s perfect record heading into the Sunday-night final, the message was heard loud and clear.
“In the final series they kind of played their game. Maybe the play in our in our defensive end could have been better, but they played exceptionally well in the final games,” the coach concluded.
