It was the buzzer-beater that wasn’t.
After fighting back from two three-goal deficits in the game, the Westlock midget Warriors couldn’t find the equalizer in a 4-3 home loss to the Vegreville Wranglers on Feb. 22. But it’s not as if they didn’t do everything in their power to get that fourth goal — they thought they had scored as the final horn sounded, but the referee emphatically waved it off.
“The ref disallowed it for no reason,” said player Tristan Tremblay. “There was more than half a second to go.”
The game’s final minute was packed with edge-of-your-seat action. With 50 seconds to play, Koben Hammett scored for the Warriors to make the score 4-3.
Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, Warriors coach Jeff Copeland pulled goalie Tyson Pidsadowski for an extra attacker. Even with numbers on their side, the Warriors had to work hard to stop the Wranglers from adding an empty-netter, as the puck made its way into the Westlock end.
With only 7.7 seconds left, the Vegreville goalie gloved a shot that was headed wide, resulting in a faceoff in the Wranglers’ end.
On the faceoff, the Wranglers iced the puck, which brought the faceoff right back into their end with 3.3 seconds left.
Once the puck was dropped, there was a crush of bodies in the Vegreville crease, and somehow the puck ended up in the net.
Jubilation erupted from the Warriors, only to be crushed the very next second as the ref waved his arms signalling “no goal.”
With the loss, the Warriors ended their regular season with a 3-17-2 record for seventh place. It also means their first-round playoff opponent will be the very same Wranglers who escaped Westlock with a win.
Tremblay said he thinks the Warriors are able to beat Vegreville, despite having dropped all four games against the Wranglers by a combined 20-11 score.
“We have the skill and we should do a lot better,” he said, adding the near tie at home is a good sign.
After falling behind 3-0 less than half way through the game, Tremblay scored at the 10:19 mark of the second to get his team on the board. Steven Mayowski and Josh Mowat had the assists.
However, the Wranglers added one more before the end of the second to take a 4-1 lead into the third period. In the third, Bailey Gregoire scored at 11:12 to make it 4-2. Madison Vekved and Jonathan Truckey drew the assists.
Finally, Hammett’s goal on an assist from Mayowski with 50 seconds to play set up the frenetic finish.
