The Saddle Lake Warriors Junior B hockey team bagged a win in one of its three back-to-back-to-back weekend games last week against the Vegreville Rangers, Thorhild Titans and the Lloydminster Bandits.
In the team’s winning game against the Titans on Saturday, the score at the Thorhild arena would read 5 – 4 at the end of the game in favour of the Warriors. However, the Warriors lost 4 – 11 against the Rangers on Friday, and 3 – 7 against the Bandits on Sunday evening at home.
For Sunday’s home game, the Warriors racked up numerous penalties, which brought the team’s momentum and offence to a grinding halt during the second part of the second period and the entire third period.
The Bandits capitalized on the Warriors’ emotional meltdown to win, explained Winston Lapatak, general manager for the Warriors.
“The first half of the game went pretty good,” said Lapatak, “We played pretty even hockey … second half of the game, we went back to our old ways, combating with the referee and getting on the wrong side of the scoreboard due to penalties.
“At the end it was a matter of discipline,” Lapatak went on to say, adding, “Lloydminster had it, and Saddle Lake kind of lost its composure.”
Lapatak said the players on the team continue to have emotional meltdowns during games, and that the team kept on beating itself to the other teams’ advantages.
“Obviously when they get the advantage, they hurt us on the scoreboard,” commented Lapatak, adding, “We’ve done this a few times this year, and we hope that we’ll get to a point where we turn it around.”
The team has added a couple of new players in the last two weeks, with Justin Smith and George Lapatak, to bolster the team’s performance leading up to the middle of the season.
The Warriors are planning to hold two of its home games in the coming new year at Frog Lake’s new hockey arena. The first game will be held on Jan. 16 against the Killam Wheat Kings, and the season-ending game on Feb. 6 will be against the Cold Lake Ice, said Lapatak.
