The Saddle Lake Warriors gave the home crowd something to cheer about on Sunday night, breaking their win drought with a decisive 6-3 victory over the Cold Lake Ice.
“This win was huge, because we’ve been getting better, a little better, a little better,” said head coach Terry Ewasiuk, noting the team just lost to Cold Lake in an away game the Wednesday night before, prior to Sunday’s match-up but that the Warriors have been competitive all season long. As compared to last year, this year, 20 guys consistently showing up to practice and then to play, he said.
Still, as a coach, you can give all the coaching advice and practice in the world, but the psychological edge doesn’t come without a win at the end of the day. “If they don’t see a reward at the end, they get down on themselves, they lose confidence.”
The night’s win gave the boys that needed boost.
“It’s a great feeling; it’s been awhile,” said Warriors’ captain Silas Makokis after the game, coming out of a locker room of men in high spirits. He noted that several of the Warriors’ losses were close ones, with the team getting edged out by one or two goals. On Sunday, the game plan leading to victory was straightforward.
“We kept it simple tonight – everybody just came out to play.”
The Ice opened the scoring early in the first, at 18:26, but the Warriors bounced back with two of their own, scored by Tyler Haineault and Preston Sparklingeyes respectively. Ty Thompson would knock another one in the second, which the Ice responded to with a goal. Haineault potted his second goal shortly afterwards, to leave the score 4 – 2 heading into the third period.
While the Ice would score one more in the third, Haineault would complete a hat trick, and the Warrirors’ Noah Sheasgreen would find the back of the net with the final goal of the night to give the Warriors the win.
Haineault had a great game, said head coach Terry Ewasiuk, who noted that his job kept him away during the season, but that the veteran player was on the ice and on his game too during the win over Cold Lake. The team’s new recruit, Matthew Cameron from Manitoba was the team’s “number one centreman,” while Keegan Pruden and Preston Sparklingeyes were also standouts on the night, said Ewasiuk.
“Our #1 line played really well. They’ve been outstanding,” he said, also giving credit to goaltender Mike Newberger, who made a few key saves to hold the Ice to three goals.
The win was appreciated by the fans too, with Sparklingeyes’ 12-year-old brother among the ones who has been out to every home game finally getting to see his brother come out on top.
“I like coming to the games because he tries hard,” said Dallas Sparklingeyes of his brother, who scored three points on the night. “He tries to do his best and set up plays.”
His mom, Cecilia Steinhauer, points to her son’s Oilers sweatshirt, and says with a smile, “See, he hasn’t given up on the Oilers or the Warriors!”
Makokis said that the team has been composed of younger players, but has picked up more older players now, who have only played a couple of games altogether. The team is going to gel more and more now, he predicted, saying of the night, “It just shows that we can play with anyone in this league.”
