WESTLOCK - The Westlock Senior ‘AA’ Warriors remain in the middle of the pack in the North Central Hockey League standings, after a loss last weekend to the Devon Barons that extends their losing streak to three games.
After the 6-2 defeat in Devon Nov. 29, the club now sports a 4-5 record, which is good enough for eight points, which ties them for fourth in the league with the Blackfalds Wranglers and Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs, both of which have played fewer games than the Warriors.
All three teams are only two points behind the Red Deer Rustlers, who are alone in third place. The Barons occupy second spot at 6-4, while the Morinville Kings lead all teams with a perfect 8-0 record.
In Devon, the Warriors ran into trouble early and were unable to mount a comeback.
“It was an interesting game, we didn’t play our best,” said coach and centreman Mike Ivey. “It was a game where our power play couldn’t get working and their power play was operating pretty good. It was just a crazy game.”
The Warriors had 18 power play opportunities, but could only convert in two as Brett Bujold put one in early in the second from Zach Mills, then Mills got one of his own from Bujold and Nathan Brown in the early third period. For their part, the Barons scored three times in 12 chances on the power play to secure the win.
By the time the third period rolled around, both teams seemed to have had enough of each other, as they traded roughing and slashing calls throughout, went toe-to-toe a couple times and each earned several game misconducts before the final whistle.
“It was a bit of a mess, we’ve had a pretty good rivalry with them for quite a while. It gets pretty heated with them every game and there were a couple cheap shots out there and a couple scraps,” said Ivey. “I like that we responded and stuck up for each other.”
The Warriors are on the road for the next three games, travelling to Fort Saskatchewan this Sunday, Dec. 8, then Red Deer Dec. 14 and Daysland Dec. 21 to finish out the 2019 schedule.
