The Westlock Senior ‘AA’ Warriors are headed to the playoffs for the first time in three years after wrapping their North Central Alberta Hockey League regular season at 3-9-1 with a win and a loss on home ice Jan. 12-13.
The club opened the weekend with a 9-7 victory over the Devon Barons on Friday before falling to the top-ranked Eckville Eagles 6-3 the next night. The Warriors, many already sporting playoff beards, will face the Morinville Kings in a best-of-five series to open the playoffs.
“We’re happy to play Morinville. They’re a very good team but I think we’re up to the task,” said alternate captain Nathan Brown. “Getting the win yesterday and having a very good game tonight, even though we came out on the losing end, is a huge confidence booster for us going into the playoffs.”
Brown pointed out that while the Warriors would have liked to beat Eckville, the team held their own.
Westlock was chasing Eckville throughout the game after the visitors opened the scoring late in the first period and then added to their lead midway through the second period. But the Warriors did not surrender — less than a minute later Taylor Heck found Brett Bujold to fire a pullet past the Eagles’ Travis Yonkman to put Westlock on the board.
Eckville responded near the end of the second period to take a 3-1 lead, but a relay from Brown to Connor Boyd reached Scott Ivey who was able to sneak in a goal in the last 18 seconds of the second period to put the Warriors within one An early powerplay goal by Brown, courtesy of Ivey and Ryan Nelles, tied the game up 3-3.
However, in the dying minutes of the game the Eagles were able to capitalize on a few mistakes for three quick goals.
“They’re the top team in the league and you can’t give them any opportunities and we did,” said Brown. “But mistakes happen. We did a very good job of working as a team and putting pressure on. Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way and they didn’t tonight.”
Despite the loss, the team and its fans left the arena in good spirits, with the fans giving the Warriors a standing ovation.
Brown said they’re happy how they stood up to Eckville and following the win over the Barons the team is confident.
“We’ve been ramping it up and playing better hockey as the season ended and now that it’s playoffs, anything can happen.”
While the Warriors know who they’ll face, as of press time the playoff schedule has not yet been released.
