By MorinvilleNews.com Staff
Morinville – It’s been a disappointing start to the 2010-2011 hockey season for the Morinville Warriors so far this month. Their original home opener against the Leduc Roughnecks set for Oct. 1 was cancelled due to a lack of referees and Saturday night’s home ice game against SSAC Don Wheaton ended in a 5-3 decision for the visiting team.
The Warriors came out of the gate strong Saturday night, pocketing two goals in the final six minutes of the first period. Tyler Fenlon picked up the Warriors first at 6:32 off an assist from Kevin Gordon and Marc Hennessy pocketed the second at 4:36, assisted by Tyler Fraser.
But the Warriors frittered away their two goal lead late in the middle frame allowing Don Wheaton to tie the game 2-2 in the final five minutes. However, Tim Tomashiro picked up a puck from Tyler Fraser and sunk it in Wheaton’s net with less than a second on the clock to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead heading into the final frame. Although the third period saw the Warriors scoreless through 20 minutes, Don Wheaton managed to tie the game 3-3 within the first five minutes of the third period, proceeding onward with another two goals at 11:13 and 5:46 to give them a 5-3 victory over the Warriors.
New League
After several years in the Sturgeon Pembina Minor Hockey League, the Warriors have made the move to the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League (NAMHL), a 25-team league made up of clubs from Edmonton and rural Alberta. The NAMHL is made up of four divisions – two city and two rural – and teams play the majority of their games within their own division.
The Warriors are one of seven teams in the West Blue Division. The other clubs include the Barrhead Steelers, PAC Spruce Grove Saints, Whitecourt Ford Mustangs, Leduc Roughnecks, St. Albert Crusaders and the West Yellowhead Rockies.
The Warriors play two games this weekend, travelling to Barrhead Friday night to take on the Steelers and returning home Saturday to face off against the Beaumont Braves. Saturday night’s game will take place at the Legal arena at 5:30 p.m.
