The Westlock Senior 'AA' Warriors closed out their regular season with a pair of decisive victories on Friday and Saturday at the Rotary Spirit Centre.
With a sparkling 16-2 record, the Warriors had clinched first place in the North Central Hockey League (NCHL) and have a first round playoff bye, so the outcome of the two games versus Slave Lake and Edson was irrelevant.
However, coach Joe Kuhar said they wanted to continue to play consistently in these last two matches.
"We are just finishing off the year, but at the same time, we don't want to call them 'nothing' games,” he said.
"These games have to be played out ... We want to finish the year on a solid note and not take anything lightly.”
The Warriors put in a "solid team effort” on Friday, downing the visiting Slave Lake Winterhawks 7-3.
The Warriors went up 2-0 in the first period with a power play goal by Evan Kuhar (assisted by Gord Bell) and David Nimmo, assisted by Derek Teske and Tanner Sohn.
Bell and Alexander Belzevick scored two more goals in the second before Slave Lake finally got on the scoreboard with two goals of their own. Marcus Johnson and Kuhar assisted.
Bell scored one more goal before the end of the second to put the Warriors up 5-2, with Kuhar assisting.
Slave Lake, which is always a very physical team, ran into penalty trouble at the end of the second period and Westlock capitalized on that, scoring two more power play goals.
Bell completed a hat trick and Kuhar had his second goal off an assist by Bell and Belzevick,
The Winterhawks closed out the third with their final goal with four minutes remaining.
Saturday night was a decidedly one-sided affair, as the Warriors steamrolled the Edson Ice 13-3.
Tellingly, the Warriors had 53 shots on goal while the Edson Ice only fired back with nine.
Nathan Brown, Brett Wold, Evan Kuhar and Christopher Brand each had two goals each.
David Carr, Derek Teske, Levis Monfette and Kolbe Waldner each netted singles.
Kuhar indicated there was little to say about the game, though they were glad to close out with a victory.
