The Westlock Senior Warriors walked out of the Rotary Spirit Centre with their heads held high despite a rough North Central Hockey League campaign that ended with a pair of home ice losses.
At the Rotary Spirit Centre, Morinville posted a 7-3 victory Jan. 13, while Bonnyville won rolled to an 9-1 win Jan. 14 leaving the team with a 4-13-0-1 regular season record.
“It was two really fast paced games,” said Warriors head coach Jonathan Cuneo. “They definitely used their speed to their advantage. They capitalized on their opportunities and we definitely missed some opportunities. I’m not sure the scores show exactly how those games went.”
In both games, the Warriors had trouble getting out of the gate. The Morinville Kings opened the score up with three unanswered goals in the first period.
The Warriors responded early in the second period with a powerplay goal by Jake Chizma, fed by John Lawley and Michael Ivey, but the Kings came back less than a minute later.
The Warriors were able to get back into the game after Jorrey Jensen took a feed off Joshua Kaliel, followed by a zinger fired by Moh Rizvi courtesy of Ryan Nelles and Philip Ferenac to get to 4-3, but the Kings scored again with six minutes remaining in the second period.
“We generated a lot of chances,” said Warrior Rod Kaliel. “We just seemed to be snakebit the whole weekend, but the guys battled hard every shift.”
The Warriors were unable to generate anything in the third while the Kings netted a pair to make the final 7-3.
The club’s luck didn’t improve the next evening when the Bonnyville Pontiacs rode into town. The Pontiacs scored in the first minute of the game and never looked back.
“It was just a sniper-shot right at the beginning of the game,” said Cuneo. “All of sudden we’re playing catch-up from a minute in. It just wasn’t a good way to start the game.”
Bonnyville went up 3-0 to finish the first. In the second Westlock’s Tayor Heck netted the club’s only goal on the night.
While no one likes to miss the playoffs, Kaliel said the team made a lot of gains over the season.
“We went into every town with class,” said Kaliel. “We represented Westlock well and we didn’t give up. We did the best with what we had, and there’s nothing more you can ask from the guys.”
The team will have a few practices to wrap up their season, then disband until training camp hits in September. Cuneo added that the team would be going on a recruitment drive over the off-season.
