The season ended for the Saddle Lake Warriors this past weekend after being swept by the Vegreville Rangers in the North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League playoffs.
The Warriors lost three back to back games in a best of five series with the Rangers and, according team president Winston Lapatak, are focused on continuing to develop after a season filled with victories and defeats.
"For us it was quite a unique journey with respect to other seasons that we've had," Lapatak said. "We set some organizational goals a little while back and given how we lost our way for a little bit I think we got back on course. Regardless of being swept by Vegreville we feel that given where we are today versus the past few seasons, things are looking very optimistic."
The Warriors finished the season in eighth place overall, four points ahead of rivals St. Paul and one point behind Thorhild, who was also swept in the first round of playoffs by the Cold Lake Ice. Saddle Lake had six wins, 26 loses and no draws.
Despite finishing in second last and failing to win a game in the post season, Lapatak said the Warriors showed some great speed on the ice, which was complemented by the team's penchant for physicality and players' stick handling and scoring abilities. From the beginning of the season, a strict physical training system was imposed on the players as well as a certain style of play taught by head coach Tony Steinhauer.
"I think he's an advanced coach and he is really trying to incorporate more of an attacking style of team concept," Lapatak said, regarding Steinhauer. "He's kind of molded the team to be one that likes to attack like the old Edmonton Oilers. That's how he ran his practices."
However, a few of the team's glaring faults this season, according to Lapatak, were the lack of professionalism shown by some players and the team's failure to earn points against opponents in the top half of the table.
"We realized that we were going to have to do some additional work with respect to getting the team more tuned in," he said. "We had a lot of human behaviour issues. I realize it's Junior B hockey, but what we're trying to do is recruit kids who are able to buy into what we're teaching.
"When I look at our overall performance, one of our biggest areas of concern is the fact we did not win a game against any of the top six teams this year," he added. "All the points we accumulated came against St. Paul and Thorhild. Being young, the confidence is still a very delicate component of these players. When they get banged up a little bit and a couple goals start going in, they start second guessing the guy to the left and right."
Lapatak said one of the highlights of the season was the play of assistant captain Myles Baptiste, who was awarded the team's Most Valuable Player award as well as the nod for Top Defencemen. Baptiste averaged 40 minutes per game and finished the regular season with seven goals and 13 assists.
Although the season has just ended, Saddle Lake has already started planning for next year and will continue to implement an all-aboriginal approach to selecting players, according to the president.
"This is not to say we would not take non-aboriginals given their skill level, talent and other criteria aligned with that. But for the sake of giving the First Nation's kid an opportunity to play at a higher level of organized hockey that could potentially be a window of opportunity to a better league," he said.
The fact that a core group of players will be returning next year is positive for the Warriors, Lapatak said, and hopefully the team will be able to attract new talent at the upcoming Alberta Native Youth Provincial tournament taking place this spring in Edmonton.
"We've got a few guys going out to some camps as well and it's great for them to get that experience," he added. "We've identified a few good midgets and some other guys for the next few years."
