AAA Warriors roll to commanding win over Beardy’s

The Moose Jaw Warriors have won their share of close games in recent Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League outings, but when you’re a first-place team in an ultra-competitive league, eventually blowouts are going to happen.

For the Tribe, that came Saturday against the Beardy’s Blackhawks.

The Warriors scored four times before the game was 10 minutes old and led 6-0 through 20 minutes while firing 26 shots at Beardy’s goaltender Kris Johnson. It was all but academic from there, as Moose Jaw would go on to an 8-1 victory at Mosaic Place.

“Those games are always tough, we came out really hard and our focus was to make sure we played tough and did a good job right off the bat,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber. “The first 20 we kind of took it too them and after that you just talk about habits and you want to make sure we’re doing things properly and go from there.”

Austin Reschny and Matt Perkins each had two goals in the first period, while Connor McGrath and Lucius Schmidt had their other opening frame markers.

McGrath picked up his second of the game with three minutes gone in the second before Cole Duppereault snapped Chase Coward’s shut-out quest 4:06 into the third. Caelan Fitzpatrick would get that one back with 6:24 remaining to close out scoring.

“Any time you can put the puck in the back of the net, it’s fun for the guys,” Weisgerber said. “When you’re playing the game the right way and getting those opportunities, you’re bound to score goals. So it’s good we’re doing that but we have to make sure we’re playing the game the right way and we’re focussing on the right things since we’re getting close to the end here.”

Coward finished the contest with 30 saves, while the Warriors fired no less than 60 shots at Johnson.

The Warriors improved to 24-8-1-0 and continue to hold a four-point lead atop the SMAAAHL standings ahead of the second place Saskatoon Contacts and Regina Pats.

Beardy’s fell to 10-18-1-0 in their final visit to Mosaic Place.

The Warriors are back in action Thursday when they travel to Notre Dame to take on the Hounds. Next home action is Saturday, Jan. 18 when they take on the Yorkton Maulers. Game time is 1:30 p.m. at Mosaic Place.