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Warriors playoff hopes hanging by a thread

Club needs a win tonight, Jan. 17, at home versus Fort Saskatchewan
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Westlock Warriors goaltender Jordan Brand looks through a crowd of Morinville Kings during the first period of the Warriors Jan. 10 home game at the Rotary Spirit Centre. The Warriors started strong and were up 2-0 at that point, but fell to the first place Kings 5-3. The team is currently in ninth place and must win their remaining home game against Fort Saskatchewan Jan. 17, while the Bonnyville Pontiacs must lose both of their remaining games for the Warriors to see the post-season. Chris Zwick/WN

The Westlock Senior 'AA' Warriors need a win Friday night, Jan. 17, then will wait to see how the Bonnyville Pontiacs make out in their two remaining games of the season, if they have any chance of seeing the post-season.

Essentially, the Warriors must win their final game of the season at the Rotary Spirit Centre tonight (puck drop is 8 p.m.) against the second place Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs and the Pontiacs must lose their two remaining games against the Chiefs and the Northstars over the weekend, or Westlock is out.

By losing both their games last weekend, the Warriors, once ranked as high as second in the North Central Hockey League, fell to last place on the heels of a nine-game losing streak that started Nov. 16.

“It has been surprising, we actually have a really good team,” said coach and captain Mike Ivey. “It’s very, very disappointing how it has turned out. The guys are pretty choked, but we’ve kept pretty positive in spite of losing that many games when you know where you should be.”

The Warriors returned home to the Rotary Spirit Centre from a long road trip to face the league-leading Morinville Kings Jan. 10. The Warriors were shot out a cannon, hitting the home ice and going up 2-0 after the first half of the first period.

They slowly succumbed to the champs though, finishing with a 5-3 score, with goals coming from Chris Brand, Brady Ducharme and Dwayne Auger.

The Daysland Northstars were in town for an afternoon tilt Jan. 11 and the Warriors were felled by the same score, 5-3, giving up three goals in the first period and never really recovering.

Goals came courtesy of Ivey, Kelin Hrycuik and Taylor Heck.

“It has been a strange one. It’s tough to put your finger on it. We’ve only had one game all year where we blown out. Other than that there have been close games that could have gone our way,” said Ivey.

There is a faint glimmer of hope for the postseason though.

The Warriors’ 4-11 record after 15 games puts them just behind the 4-9-0-1 record of the Bonnyville Pontiacs, with an overtime loss and two games in hand.

“It’s going to be tough, but at the same time we’ll go out there and give it our all. We’d like to end on a good note, whether we make the playoffs or not,” said Ivey. “We’ll see if the hockey gods are on our side.”

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