It was a weekend to forget for the reigning North Central Hockey League champions after dropping two straight on home ice.
At the Rotary Spirit Centre on Friday, Nov. 27 the Warriors suffered an 8-1 beating at the hands of the Devon Barons, and then on Saturday, Nov. 28, it was the league newcomers, the Bonnyville Pontiacs who skated away with a 6-3 win.
In Friday night’s tilt against Devon it was the Barons who got on the board early and often in what was a rough outing for the home team.
The Barons were up 3-0 before the midway point of the first period, but a goal from Warriors’ captain Mike Ivey cut the deficit to 3-1.
Coach Joe Kuhar admitted it wasn’t the start he was looking for.
“If we don’t get that first goal and the other team gets it, it sort of takes the wind out of our sails,” Kuhar said.
From there on out it was all Devon who scored four times on six shots in the second, while tallying one more in the third to make it 8-1.
“I can’t say I was really happy overall with our play,” said Kuhar. “We broke down and just didn’t come to play hockey like we know how.”
Aside from the lack of intensity from his team, shaky goaltending and constant trips to the penalty box hurt their chances of getting back into the game.
“We needed a little bit of goaltending to help us out and our discipline in terms of penalties was something that really took the momentum away,” Kuhar said.
With Friday night’s game in the backs of their minds, the Warriors quickly shifted focus to Saturday night’s tilt against league newcomers and North Division leaders the Bonnyville Pontiacs.
“Saturday night’s game with a little different attitude,” Kuhar said.
“Friday night was halfway of our season, we were 4-4 … basically the message was we can’t hang our heads.
“We need to take the next eight games and call it a new season.”
The message seemed to hit home, as the first period was an intense battle.
The Pontiacs found themselves in early penalty trouble taking four consecutive minors resulting in a lengthy five-on-three for Westlock.
Warriors did capitalize as Michael Podruzny notched a power play marker with help from Zach Schram to lead 1-0 at the break.
In the second the Warriors would get into penalty trouble of their own as the Pontiacs converted on four power plays to take a commanding 4-1 lead.
“We played a strong first,” Kuhar said. “We got to the second and took some penalties and (the game) quickly turned on us.”
Bonnyville added an even-strength goal with under two minutes to go in the second when a wide-open Denis Cadrin’s one-timer beat Chris Kuhar to make it 5-1 at the intermission.
In the third Taylor Heck and Kolbe Waldner scored for the Warriors, but it wasn’t enough.
“The difference was that second period,” said the coach.
Kuhar said if the team can make a few alterations to their game, there’s still a good chance for the Warriors to make a playoff return.
“What I’m looking at from the team is we need to improve and progress from this point forward and let’s peak at the right times,” he said.
