Although the scoreboard showed the Westlock Bantam Warriors dominated the ice last Saturday night, the 7-0 win came as a result of a lot of hard work.
Forward Adam Hardinge, one of the Warriors’ assistant captains, said although they knew they could beat Warburg going into the match they still brought their ‘A’ game.
“We’ve beat them in the past, but we still had to work hard and show our best effort,” he said. “You can’t just go out there and not play. You’ve got to earn the win.”
And earn it they did, running up the score to 3-0 in the first five minutes with two goals from Hardinge and a third from Isaiah Blanchette.
Ethan Brost put another one in the net with nine minutes left in the period to give the Warriors a commanding 4-0 lead.
The second period was a little slower on the scoring, with just one goal from Dylan Boutin expanding Westlock’s lead to 5-0.
Nicholas Schwarz took advantage of the momentum in the third period, putting in two goals — both assisted by Hardinge.
Hardinge said coming out to such a strong start really helped set the pace for the game and can make a big difference in terms of team morale.
“It’s a big starter for us. It gets everybody’s legs going and gets us into the game,” he said.
While it’s difficult to find fault with a game that goes so overwhelmingly in your favour, Hardinge said there may still be some kinks to work out in keeping everybody on the same page.
“We just need to know our jobs in our own end, and make sure our system still works and make sure we’re still following through,” he said.
The Warriors have been having a very strong season so far, and are comfortably sitting in the top end of the their division.
Assuming they can keep up the same pace, there’s little reason to think they can’t come away from the season with a win in the league playoffs, or even provincials.
Part of that, though, is keeping in mind the reason to get out on the ice to begin with — a love of the game.
“We’re working hard and we’re having fun,” Hardinge said.
