WESTLOCK – The Westlock Senior Warriors saved arguably their best performances of the year for their final game, scoring an improbable victory over the North Central Hockey League’s back-to-back President’s Cup winning Lacombe Generals to secure home-ice advantage in their opening round playoff series against the Red Deer Rustlers.
The Warriors’ 4-2 Jan. 28 road win over the Generals, who ended the year atop the NCHL at 11-2-1-1, means they’ll finish in fourth with an 8-5-0-1 mark and have home-ice advantage when they take on the Rustlers in one of two best-of-five playoff series that begin this coming weekend, with puck drop for Game 1 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Rotary Spirit Centre (RSC) and Game 2 in Red Deer Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. Game 3 goes in Westlock Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 8:40 p.m. and if needed, Game 4 is slated for Feb. 11 back in Red Deer, while Game 5 would be at the RSC Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2:45 p.m.
In the other series, the third-place Morinville Kings, at 9-5-1-0, will host the 6-6-0-2 Devon Barons, who finished in sixth, with the winners from each moving on to face the Generals and Camrose Crunch in the league semifinal. Ultimately, the winners from those series will vie for the league’s top honour, the Vanberg Cup.
Warriors captain Mike Ivey, who got the club’s first goal 1:25 into the game versus the Generals, said they came out motivated and hungry. The Warriors went up 2-0 in the second period on a goal from Garry Mindus, before the Generals came roaring back to tie the contest 2-2.
At 7:53 of the third, Bryce Van Brabant put the Warriors up for good, while Brett Kampjes, named the game’s third star, added an empty-netter with 56 ticks left on the clock to seal the deal. Between the pipes, goalie Chase Langdale, who just returned from injury, was stellar and turned aside 22 of the 24 shots he faced and was named first star of the night.
“Chase was awesome, it was huge to have him back and it doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat which is what we need heading into the playoffs,” said Ivey, noting their special teams were also decent as they were able to fend off five powerplays.
There’ll be no secrets between the Warriors and Rustlers, who finished the year at 7-7-0-0, when they square off this coming weekend. Despite being 0-2 against them in the regular season, Ivey said they like their chances in a best-of-five but will have to play disciplined hockey and give the Rustlers as few powerplays as possible.
“They’re a good team and have a lot of skill upfront. Both games against them have been close and I think we probably could have won both of them. We want to come at them hard and take away their time and space,” he said. “If we can play anywhere near how we did last night I think we’ve got a good shot. We match up well against them and the guys are excited for it.”
