The Westside hockey team played against Millard South at Baxter Arena on Friday, March 1, 2019. Westside played in the first of two games to earn the title of state champions. The Warriors fell back halfway through the second period by one and in the third by two, reulting in a loss. Down but not out, with the tournament set up as double elimination, the Warriors have one more shot at the title. Defender Thomas Shaffer explained what this means.

“We play against Millard South, if we lose that game they win the championship and if we win, we win the championship,”  Shaffer said.

Players, coaches, and parents, all seemed to point the reason for Westside’s loss to an excessive amount of penalties. Lynda Loontjer, parent of player Nikolas Loontjer, explained what went wrong.

“I just think that we had too many penalties on us. Whether it was fair or not fair it happened. They need to stay in the game, stay on the ice,” Loontjer said. “They can all work it out together.”

For now, it’s time for reevaluation and more dedication for the Warriors and one of the team’s Coaches, Tom Shaffer, said the team feels ready for this Sunday.

“We took way to many penalties for a championship game, so [we] need to clean that up, stay out of the box, play 5-on-5 then I think we’ll have quite a chance on Sunday.” Shaffer said. “The kids feel good, we already talked about it, they’re ready to go. We were undefeated up to this point. The team definitely noticed the fan support here and they’re hoping to get that back on Sunday.”

Westside’s Hockey team will be playing this Sunday, March 3, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. at Baxter Arena for the final state championship game. Follow Westside Wired on Twitter for more updates.