The Westlock Midget Warriors managed to go .500 over the weekend in pair of 1660 Midget Tier 2 Hockey League tilts, dropping a 3-1 decision to Wetaskiwin Feb. 2 at the Rotary Spirit Centre, while dominating Ponoka the following night on the road.
The Warriors fell 3-1 against Wetaskiwin Friday night, with Zaidyn Pipke scoring the lone Westlock goal with assists from Dylan Gabel and Joshua Reagan in the second period.
“Wetaskiwin is first in the league so they’re more of a team to handle then Ponoka was. They play a hard, fast game and we had to do a lot more to keep up,” said Warriors head coach Rick Dutchak.
Penalties were definitely a problem as the Warriors went to the box 13 times throughout the game including a five-minute major and game misconduct for Brendan Gerig for fighting.
“We played a decent game, we just didn’t play a full 60 minutes. We had a lull there for a power play so we had to stay out of the box. That was the difference, we let up for a bit and penalties against a good team like that are going to cost you,” said Dutchak.
Wetaskiwin is in first place in the league with a 12-3-2 record while the Warriors were 9-7-2 for the season heading into Ponoka Saturday night.
The Warriors came out flying against the Wolves. They took the lead early and didn’t look back scoring a 9-2 win.
“In Ponoka we just dominated from the beginning. We didn’t give them much of a chance to get in the game so the boys fore-checked them right away and put the pressure on and went to the net a lot more.”
