If the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors didn’t spot the Notre Dame Hounds a seven-goal lead in their contest on Tuesday night in Wilcox, they would already be off to a better showing than the previous time the teams met.
The Warriors were certainly better than that, but in the end, Notre Dame showed why they’re now sitting atop the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League standings.
Leading 4-2 through two periods, the Hounds scored three goals in the final frame and would go on to a 7-2 victory.
Liam Fitzpatrick and Daxin Peterson scored for Moose Jaw, who trailed 3-1 after the first and were still well within striking distance after two periods. It was a far cry from the last time the two teams shared the ice back on Feb. 10 at Mosaic Place, where the Hounds scored five straight second-period goals to lead 7-0 and would go on to an 11-2 win.
Notre Dame’s Ishan Mittoo-Khulbe had goals in each period for a hat trick, while Owen Thomas, Ben Aucoin, Andrew Altwasser and Connor O’Keefe had single markers.
Fitzpatrick also added an assist for the Warriors, while Aucoin had three helpers for Notre Dame to go along with a pair each for Altwasser and Ty Beacon.
Ethan Fechter went the distance in goal with 35 saves, while Joey Rocha had 27 stops for the Hounds.
The Warriors are now 24-16-0-1 and tied with the Saskatoon Contacts for fifth place, one point back of the Regina Pat Canadians and one up on the Prince Albert Mintos.
With three home games left in their regular season, all that’s left is to decide are playoff positions. While other clubs have as many as five games in hand on the Warriors, Moose Jaw can mathematically finish as high as third place and no lower than seventh.
Moose Jaw is back in action with a pair of games this weekend as they host the Saskatoon Contacts Friday and Prince Albert Mintos on Saturday before taking on the Tisdale Trojans in their regular-season finale on Monday. The two weekend game times are 7 p.m., Family Day Monday is 2 p.m., with all contests at Mosaic Place.
