The rematch on Sunday at Mosaic Place featured the Warriors who found themselves struggling earlier this month, as they fell behind early and played catch-up from the puck drop, eventually falling 5-4.
Up and down, good and bad, Jekyll and Hyde.
So it comes as no wonder that the word ‘consistency’ was a primary feature when head coach Trevor Weisgerber described his team’s effort over the weekend.
“You know what, it’s just where we’re at,” he said. “It’s tough, we need to figure it out and be more consistent and until that happens, these are the results we’re going to have... There’s too much parity in the league this year, and if you turn the puck over that many times, every team is going to make you pay. There were spurts where we were the best team on the ice, but then there are times where we’re turning pucks over and scrambling and it’s tough.”
Moose Jaw wasted no time getting things going in Saturday’s contest, scoring five first-period goals and leading 7-0 through two. Yorkton pushed back with three third-period markers, though, and that momentum would carry over into Sunday.
Jackson Allan had two goals and an assist for the Warriors, while Rowan Calvert had a goal and a pair of helpers. Kayden Ostrom, Blake Betson and Connor Miller each had a goal and an assist. Blake Ekren-Batton had their other marker.
Ryan Bain had 24 saves for the win.
Sunday’s rematch saw Yorkton take a 2-0 lead early in the second period before the Warriors rallied to tie things on goals from Miller and Wyatt Lacoste. Another pair of Mauler markers made it 4-2 heading into the third.
There, Ekren-Batton and Calvert scored a minute apart midway through the frame to tie things up, but a brutal turnover in the game’s waning seconds led to a Yorkton 2-on-1 and Dylan Schoenroth scoring the game winner with 13 seconds left.
Bain started for the Warriors and made 18 stops, Fechter played the final 20:30 and had 14 saves.
“It’s a combination of things that we’ve shot ourselves in the foot with,” Weisgerber said, also referring to a pair of late-game penalties that also affected the outcome. “We have to figure it out, we’re 17 games into the season and it seems to always be one day on and the next day off and we need to get that consistency. So we’ll keep working at it here with these guys.”
The Warriors fell to 10-7-0-0 with the loss and sit in sixth place in the league standings. Yorkton improved to 3-15-0-2.
Moose Jaw is back in action Tuesday when they host the Notre Dame Hounds. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
