The Westlock Senior ‘AA’ Warriors’ inaugural pre-season started and ended on Saturday night with a 4-2 victory over the visiting Devon Barons at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
Club president and coach Joe Kuhar said this was the Warriors’ first real test, as the other senior ‘AA’ teams in the North Central Hockey League (NCHL) have already had a few games.
“It was a good test, especially since we were playing against the defending champions from last year,” he said.
Kuhar said they spotted a few things during play to work on during the week, but otherwise it was a positive night.
“Everybody contributed tonight,” he said. “We’re really excited with what we saw out there.”
The Warriors got off to an early lead in Saturday’s home game, scoring three goals in the first period to go up 3-0. Devon scored twice in the second period, but Westlock added a fourth goal was added in the second period to put the Warriors ahead 4-2.
Evan Kuhar, Brandon Miller and Zac Michalko each notched a goal during the match, with Michalko, Alex Belzevick, Josh Wohland and Martin Clausen earning assists.
“We wanted to start off defensively, to get a feel for everything to start with,” said Kuhar. “As it turned out, we ended up being a little bit more offensive than we expected.
Kuhar said the Warriors were able to control the play until the third period, when roughing and slashing penalties started to catch up to the Westlock team as a result of Devon “putting some pressure” on the Warriors.
“When the other team is down like that ... they got to do what they got to do to bring us down,” said Kuhar.
Although tempers flared at the end, “at the end of the day, our horses were there,” he said.
This is the first season of the Westlock Warriors, the first senior team to be based out of the community in several years.
Having finished with exhibition games, the Warriors will now open their season against the Edson Ice this Saturday, Oct. 19. The warm-up begins at 8 p.m., with the game to follow at 8:30 p.m.
“We’re looking forward to our home-opener next weekend,” said Kuhar.
On a side note, the Warriors are still looking for volunteers to help fill executive positions on the roster.
