The Westlock Senior Warriors are one victory away from their first North Central Hockey League crown.
The club scored impressive 3-1 and 5-1 victories Friday and Saturday over the two-time defending NCHL champs, the Devon Barons, to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NCHL championship series. Game 3 goes Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
“They’re pretty pumped. We’re happy to have the opportunity to come home and win the title in front of the home crowd,” said coach Joe Kuhar.
Kuhar said the club was a little nervous for Friday’s home game and trailed 1-0 early. But a goal from Nathan Brown with 2:33 to go in the first tied the score and the club never looked back. The Warriors went on to nearly outshoot the Barons two-to-one (49-27) and tallied again in the second and third periods for the 3-1 victory. Levis Monfette netted the game winner at 12:27 of the second, while Dave Nimmo’s powerplay marker at 1:07 of the third sealed the deal.
“Game 1 is always a game that you just want to get over and move on to the next game. The boys had some jitters but were able to pull it together,” said Kuhar.
“But the boys really dominated play last night (the 5-1 win in Devon). It was a strong showing from the one line for sure. Nathan Brown, Dave Carr and Levis Monfette were putting the puck in the net and making things happen all night.
“And Chris (Kuhar) had another solid night in the goal and kept them at bay. It was a good team effort for sure.”
Kuhar knows the Baron won’t go down without a fight as the defending two-time NCHL champs.
But he says the Warriors haven’t forgotten their defeat at the hands of the Barons in last year’s league semifinal and want pay back.
“It’s redemption for us after losing a heartbreaker in the semifinal to them last year by a single goal,” coach Kuhar continued.
“The boys want to show they’re the better team. They’re prepared and ready to go and want to finish this early so we can have a good week or so of rest before provincials at the end of the month.”
Following their sterling 16-1-0-1 record in the regular season, the Warriors received a first-round bye, then swept Whitecourt 3-0 in the league semifinal.
The Barons, who went 10-7-0-1 in the regular season, defeated Edson in the opening round of the playoffs, before shocking the second-place Morinville Kings (13-4-0-1) in a five-game semifinal triumph.
