A third period comeback not only netted Westlock’s Midget Sabres a win, but returned the club to top spot in Tier 3 of the 1660 Hockey League.
Versus Onoway Friday night, Jordan Boulerice scored the game-winner with roughly five minutes left on the clock to give the club a 4-3 victory.
“It’s nice to win the game,” said coach Jeff Copeland. “We lost last weekend against Fort Saskatchewan; it was a tough game and we have a game coming up against Camrose, so it’s nice getting a win beforehand.”
The 4-1 loss against Fort Saskatchewan Jan. 21 pushed the Sabres into second place in Tier 3.
“They didn’t come out to play — they didn’t play their hockey (last week),” he said. “We took a lot of penalties and we were missing a couple of guys. They just came in and focused on this game.”
The team’s focus paid off Friday night.
“They wanted to win. They don’t want to lose to Onoway; we had a bad game against them last time, which we should have won,” he said, adding the team lost 5-3 on Jan. 12.
“Onoway lost to Lamont 8-2 (Jan. 26) and Lamont is kind of a weaker team, so they came into this game with high hopes of hopefully winning the game.”
The Sabres came out strong, leading 3-1 heading into the second period. The club let down its guard in the second period, allowing Onoway to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third.
Despite still being down one player as a result of injury, the lineup was almost back to normal. Copeland said a vital defenceman returned to the ice after an injury and helped out with a goal.
The win against Onoway is good news as they will be the toughest competition the Sabres face for the remainder of the season.
“I heard the goalie they had playing tonight isn’t their regular goalie. He wasn’t supposed to be playing hockey this year — he got a bad injury in the summer — so he’s brought this team right back in the running and up in the standings again,” Copeland said.
The Sabres will close out the regular season with one more match against Onoway.
