Throughout training camp, the Moose Jaw Warriors’ elite veterans looked like they could be on the verge of dominating any of the scrimmages at any time, and often did exactly that.
On Saturday night in Assinboia, they showed just how dangerous they can be.
Both Jagger Firkus and Atley Calvert had hat tricks as the Warriors picked up a 7-4 victory over the Swift Current Broncos in front of 1,300 fans at the Southland Co-op Centre.
While the rest was positive, the vast majority of buzz after the game surrounded the outstanding reception the two teams had in their neutral site battle. Fans were lined up outside the building well before puck drop and packed the rink -- first opened in September 2022 -- to check out a host of future NHLers in the line-up for both teams.
“It was awesome,” Calvert told Marc Smith on the UFZ Postgame Show. “Any time you play a preseason game you think you’re going to see 150 people in the stands and then you go out there and it’s jam-packed. It almost feels like a regular season game just because the atmosphere was so great. We really appreciate all the fans coming out, we really appreciate coming here and I hope we can do it again next year.”
Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary was of much the same opinion.
“I thought it was great,” he said. “We anticipated this and it’s important for our guys to have nights like this. You talk about being a small community but it’s the surrounding area as well and I thought it was a great atmosphere and fun. Exhibition games don’t usually have that much juice in the building, so I thought it was great all around.”
The Warriors wasted little time giving fans what they came to see, as Firkus scored 29 seconds into the game and made it 2-0 just over six minutes later. Billal Noori got one back for the Broncos before the period was out, setting up a wild second period.
Calvert scored his first at 9:54 to make it a 3-1 game, but a three-minute lapse led to Swift Current coming all the way back and then some.
Van Eger, Sawyer Dingman and Mason Fauser all scored in a span of 2:39 immediately after Calvert’s goal, and just like that it was 4-3 Broncos.
“The second period was tough and there were just a few bad bounces,” O’Leary said.”I thought for 60 minutes tonight we were the better team, we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities early on and we got caught running around a bit in the defensive zone, but I thought it was a good win.”
Lynden Lakovic tied the game three minutes after Fauser’s go-ahead goal, setting up a third period that was all Warriors.
Calvert scored power play goals two minutes apart late in the period to tie the game, and Firkus added an empty netter to finish things off. Firkus capped his night with six points, Calvert with five, while Denton Mateychuk and Josh Hoekstra had two assists each.
“We started the third period a little slow, we were a little slow to checking, but then once we got our legs under us and started sprinting a bit more we got a few power plays there,” Calvert said. “We eventually capitalized and that was the game.”
Jackson Unger went the distance in goal and turned aside 33 shots, while Joey Rocha stopped 36 for the Broncos.
The Warriors are back in action on Friday night when they travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings before the two teams rematch Saturday in the lone pre-season game at the Moose Jaw Events. Game time is 7 p.m.
