The Westlock Peewee ‘A’ Warriors are provincial silver medallists.
The Warriors lost 7-5 to the Grimshaw Flyers in the championship final of the Peewee ‘B’ Provincial Tournament on Sunday, March 24 in Three Hills.
“I told the kids to hold your heads high and take this as a step …” said coach Shane Boulerice, who admitted he was at a loss for words following the defeat. “The boys battled through every bit of it and played the best they could.”
In getting to the championship game, the Warriors had their work cut out for them in the semifinal on Sunday morning.
The semifinal saw the Warriors take on the host Kneehill Chiefs in a thrilling overtime game. After trailing 2-1 after two periods, the Warriors scored early in the third to tie things 2-2, which is where the score stayed until the 7:42 mark of overtime when Braydie Teszeri scored to send his team to the final.
In the round robin, the Warriors compiled a 2-1 record to earn second place in their pool. They beat the Drumheller Raptors 9-3, and knocked off the Wainwright Fusion 4-2 before dropping a 10-2 decision to Grimshaw.
Speaking after the semifinal win, Boulerice said he hoped to use what the Warriors learned in that loss to Grimshaw to help them turn the tables in the final.
“We have to stop their quick starts and we have to have the puck more than they do,” he said. “We just have to be a better rounded team than last night.”
Despite the loss, Boulerice said the Warriors showed just what kind of a team they were. “There’s better teams than us here, but I think our teamwork and other stuff is what brought us over the top,” he said.
Before heading down to provincials, the Warriors had to wrap up their league play by going up against Strathcona for the 1660 League Tier 2A championship.
In the end, the Warriors dropped the best-of-three series in two games, falling 5-4 at home on March 16 and 4-1 on the road on March 17.
Despite the loss, Boulerice said it was a good end to the season for the team.
“I think that was awesome for this group of boys,” he said.
Boulerice recounted how he had told the boys around Christmas that he felt they could be a .500 team and compete with any other team in the league.
It would be fair to say he knew what he was talking about to some degree, as the Warriors finished the regular season 8-8-4 and then went on a run in the playoffs, knocking off Gibbons and Beaumont before running into Strathcona.
“They proved me wrong,” he said. “They became the second-place team in the league.”
