Warriors edge SL

The Westlock Senior ‘AA' Warriors capitalized on the power play to score a 6-5 victory on Saturday night versus the Slave Lake Winterhawks.

Coach Joe Kuhar said the Warriors came out a little flatfooted, allowing Slave Lake to gain a 3-1 lead by the end of the first.

Nathan Brown scored the Warriors' only goal in the first period after they were already down 2-0, with Evan Kuhar and Alexander Belzevick assisting.

Kuhar said the Warriors realized they weren't on their game by the second and 'everyone took a little more accountability for themselves."

After Slave Lake upped their lead to 4-1 at the 16-minute mark, the Warriors answered back with their second goal only 11 seconds later. Brady Ducharme scored his first goal of the night with an assist from Michael Ivey.

Kuhar said it was a rough match overall, with a lot of 'stick work" not being called by the refs.

'It's to be expected when we play up in Slave Lake," he added. 'We knew we were in for a battle, no doubt."

However, the second period turned especially rough midway through, and Slave Lake started to get into serious penalty trouble. Fortunately, that worked out for the Warriors, as they scored two power play goals to tie the score at 4-4.

'At the end of the day, if (Slave Lake) plays hockey, they're a good enough team. But sometimes, the emotions get the best of them."

David Nimmo and Michael Ivey scored both goals for the Warriors - Ivey and Josh Kaliel had assists on Nimmo's goal.

The third period opened with a goal at 16:50 by Derek Teske, assisted by Ivey and Nimmo.

The Winterhawks tied it up with a power play goal of their own seven minutes later, but the Warriors finally pulled ahead with a final unassisted goal by Ducharme at 4:34.

Currently, the Warriors sit at first place in the North Central Hockey League. Technically speaking, the Warriors could theoretically be bumped out of first place if they lost their last four games of the season and Whitecourt, which sits in second place, won all six of theirs.

As such, the Warriors' home game on Friday, Jan. 9 versus Whitecourt will be a fairly important match.

'If we win that one, that pretty much seals the deal in terms of having first place sewn up," said Kuhar.