The races in both Divisons are close after play last weekend. In the North Division, Westlock Warriors hold a one point lead over second place Devon Barons while 3rd place Bonnyville Pontiacs are another point back. Winless Morinville Kings are still searching for their first win of the season.
In the South Division, Lacombe Generals, Red Deer Rustlers and Wetaskiwin Longhorns all sit tied for the lead with Camrose Bruins lurking only 2 points back. Let's take a look at what happened last weekend.
In Devon, the hometown Barons took it to the Bonnyville Pontiacs 9-3 avenging the 7-6 Bonnyville win back on October 14th. This game wasn't as close as the Barons outscored the Pontiacs 3-1 each period to win going away. Devon Winczura (2-1-3) lead the way for the Barons with help from Austin Cunningham (2-0-2), Ryan Terpsma (1-1-2), and Dayton Heino (2-0-2). Mike Gudmanson turned away 41 Bonnyville shots to pick up the win while the Pontiacs Drew Fleury took the loss. Replying for the Pontiacs were Ryan Piche with 2 and Coltan Buchta.
Meanwhile, in Wetaskiwin, the home team was mauled by the bear from Camrose 7-3 which was payback for the Longhorns win over Camrose 6-4 back on September 30th. A large crowd of over 1100 saw Camrose score 5 times in the second period to overturn an early Longhorn's lead and followed up with 2 un-answered goals in the 3rd period to win going away. Scoring for Camrose were Carter Danczak (2-0-2), Jarod Hovde (1-0-1), Dillan McCombie (1-1-2), Daniel Stollery (1-0-1), Lane Lightning (1-1-2) and Mitchell McMullen (1-1-2). This game saw the return of a couple of ex-Daysland Northstars in David Jacobson (although briefly) and Carter Danczak who both made their 2023 debuts. Curtis Skip notched the win stopping 37 shots while Longhorns Devin Buffalo took the loss (his 1st). What a great shot taken by Looking Back Photography!

Photo Credit - Looking Back Photography Wetaskiwin Up in Morinville, the Kings had another rough outing as they were dumped 12-0 by the Lacombe Generals. Travis Yonkman made his first start since January 2020 and picked up the shutout for Lacombe. Scoring for the Generals were Thomas Beretta (4-0-4), Kade Garrity (1-3-4), TJ Brown (2-2-4), Tyrell Bourk (1-1-2), Dayton Playford (1-1-2), Kody Wold (1-1-2) and Patrick Martens (2-1-3). Goaltenders Garrett Storms and Jamond Cardinal split the Kings goaltending.
In Penhold, the Westlock Warriors and Red Deer Rustlers traded lots of goals and it appeared the game would be going to overtime when Rustler's rookie Gabe Bast scored his third goal of the game in the last minute to power Red Deer to their 7-6 win. In addition to Bast's (3-1-4), Tyler Berkholtz (1-2-3), Ryan Vandervlis (1-2-3), captain Mike Dempster (2-0-2) scored for the Rustlers. Goaltender Kramer Barnstable made his NCHL debut stopping 31 shots to pick up the win. Replying for the Warriors were Mack Mindus (1-1-2), Scott Ivey (2-1-3), Bryce Van Brabant (2-2-4) and Zach Mills (1-0-1). Rookie Keegan Richards took the loss stopping 27 shots.
There are 4 games on the schedule for this coming weekend. Bonnyville hosts Lacombe, Wetaskiwin travels to Westlock, Devon is in Morinville and Red Deer heads north to Camrose.