by Stephen Dafoe
The Morinville Senior AA Kings will head to the NCHL semi-finals next weekend after defeating the Westlock Warriors 5-2 on the road Friday night.
“It was another great action-packed game,” said Kings’ President Wayne Gatza. “They [Westlock] came really hard, played a tight game defensively taking away all out time and space.”
The Kings lead the game one nothing after one. Although the Warriors scored early out of the gate to tie it up, the Kings cashed in on some powerplay advantages to lead the second period 4-1. In the third, the Kings were able to keep the Warriors off the board for the most part, allowing one in with seven minutes left in the game. The Kings’ final goal came when Westlock pulled their goalie and the Kings popped one into the empty net.
“It was a heck of a series. Their goalie kept them in the game. He was fantastic. He made I don’t know how many saves that he never should have made,” Gatza said.
The Kings now move on to face Red Deer in the semi-finals.
“It’s going to be a close, close series. It’s going to be hard fought. They’re a very physical team with great goaltending as well. It’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be tight.”
At the time of this article’s publishing, it was not known when and where the next payoffs will be played.
