The Saddle Lake Warriors was edged out of a win in its second meeting against the top placed Cold Lake Ice at Saddle Lake’s Manitou Kihew arena on Sunday evening, by a score of 6-7.
The Warriors had already had one defeat at the hands of the Ice in an away game on Friday night, by a score of 3 - 7, as well as a Saturday 2 - 5 loss against the Lloydminster Bandits on Saturday night, and were hoping to come back to finish the weekend with a win.
On Sunday night, the game between both teams was one of the fastest and most physical since the start of the Warriors’ season, with the crowd of Warriors’ fans at the arena cheering on the hometown boys for the entire three periods.
Jared Cunningham scored the first goal of the game, and contributed another in the first period, with Justin Croft and Matthew Watson assisting on each of the goals.
However, the Ice equalized with a goal of the team’s own, courtesy of its left-winger Corey Lester. The Ice followed up with two more goals, first with a power play goal with eight minutes to go in the first period, and then knocking in another goal during the second period to make it a 4-2 game.
The Warriors came back with a goal at 10:28 in the second period with a power play goal from Damen Weekusk, with assists from Justin Croft and Matthew Watson.
Unfortunately, the Ice scored slightly more than two minutes after to put the Ice ahead by two goals.
The third period belonged almost entirely to the Warriors, with its offence scoring three unanswered goals – two courtesy of Cunningham and one by Gabriel Gardipy to put the Warriors ahead by one goal.
The nail-biter of a game would have finished right there and then with a win for the Warriors if not for a disappointing goal by the Ice with 9:15 to go in the third.
The Ice’s Dallas Ansell then scored with 32 seconds into the first overtime period, which brought the loud cheers in the arena to a whisper.
“It was a good game,” commented Stan Olson, head coach of the Warriors, after the game. “We played hard and they played hard.”
The Warriors performed well up until the overtime, he noted. He also felt the team was continually improving. “This is our third game in three nights, and our game got better. It’s a growing process.”
When asked about the Warriors’ chances at the Northeast Alberta Junior B Hockey League playoffs, Olson answered, “It’s a long way off … we hope we’re going to get there, but you never know.”
Olson also explained that the team has seven spots left to fill, and the team will try to recruit players cut from the Junior A teams. “Hopefully with those guys, we’ll be a very competitive hockey club,” said Olson, adding, “I’d like to have a whole new starting line – two defensemen, a center and two wingers out of Junior A.
“If we have five of those guys, that’s probably what we’re looking at. We hope to get some of them in the team by Dec. 2.”
The Warriors are currently sitting in seventh place overall in the league, with the NEAJBHL website indicating the team has seven points, three wins, eight losses and one overtime loss.
