The Saddle Lake Jr. B Warriors played their best game of the season at home on Sunday evening, but the boys were still unable to top the Killam Wheat Kings.
The Warriors have struggled both offensively and defensively this season, but looked in top form on Sunday. Following two consecutive Killam penalties, Saddle Lake scored a power play goal at the 15-minute mark of the first period. The Wheat Kings retaliated with a power play goal of their own with just two minutes left in the first, and nearly had a second goal as they rang a hard shot off the post at the very last second before the buzzer sounded to end the period.
Silas Makokis scored for Saddle Lake to start the second period, but penalties plagued the team from that point on. The Warriors were sent to the box a total of 11 times during the second period, many of the infractions looking suspiciously minor.
This meant that the Warriors were essentially shorthanded for the entirety of the period, and Coach Darren Reid was not pleased with many of the referees’ decisions.
“We were winning this game 2-1, and then we get all these penalties, all in a row, because we were winning. But you know what? We were shorthanded for almost the whole period, and Killam still couldn’t do very much against us,” said Reid, after the game, clearly agitated from the way the game went.
The Wheat Kings managed to put two goals in the back of the net while on the power play, but the Warriors’ defense, and net minder Caleb Virgo in particular, played strong and prevented Killam from running away with the game.
The third period was more of the same, with penalties being handed to Saddle Lake early and often. The Wheat Kings applied pressure on the power play and scored a fourth goal, three minutes into the period.
Saddle Lake fought back, however, and forward Orrie Wood scored on a beautiful cross-ice pass from Thomas Kishayinew to bring the Warriors within one goal. But Saddle Lake couldn’t make a full comeback, and the game ended with a score of 4-3.
Most frustrating for Coach Reid was how he felt his team was treated during the game, especially by the opposing team’s coaching staff.
“You can’t just come to a town and disrespect the community like that. It’s disgraceful,” said Reid, when speaking on how he felt his team was treated.
Despite the loss and the hard feelings, Reid was thrilled with how his team played.
“I feel so great about the boys and their game today. It was definitely our best game of the season, and it’s only going to get better. We played our game. We were aggressive. We were strong on both ends of the ice.”
Although the season has had a slow start for the Warriors, things seem to be looking up for the team.
“We worked on defense all week this week,” said Reid, adding, “And look how much it helped. I feel like we’re building and getting stronger.” The coach has high hopes for a rematch against Killam in November.
The Warriors also had a game postponed this weekend due to inclement weather, and that game will be rescheduled soon. The team’s next home game is against the Cold Lake Ice on Friday at 8 p.m.
