Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Atley Calvert has seen many an edition of the Trans-Canada Clash between the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Regina Pats.
On Saturday night, he was a key cog in a commanding win for his hometown team.
Calvert scored his first career Western Hockey League hat trick and the Warriors would go on to a 4-1 victory at Mosaic Place.
The win was Moose Jaw’s sixth in a row and gives the local squad points in eight of their last 10 games.
The Warriors are now 23-16-3-1 on the season, eight points back of Red Deer for fourth in the Eastern Conference and six up on Saskatoon.
“It's a lot of fun right now,” Calvert said. “We're clicking and we're peaking at the right moment, and we're starting to take some steps up here… It’s special. We're really bonding together as a team and it’s nice to be winning some games here.”
The previous two meetings between the teams saw Regina get off to a fast start with early goals to take control of the game.
There was none of that this time around, and Regina hadn’t even registered a shot when the Warriors scored their first marker. Ryder Korczak did the honours on the power play 6:11 into the contest, finishing off a scramble in front of the net with a shot that slipped under Pats goaltender Matthew Kieper.
“We haven’t had the best starts against these guys, especially in their barn,” Calvert said. “I think that we all knew that going in and this was a big one to get out of the way here. We got the job done tonight and had a really good game.”
Korczak’s marker would be the only goal of the first period, and Regina would tie the game up three minutes into the second when Tye Spencer was rewarded with a tap in for going hard to the net after a point shot by Cole Dubinsky.
That set the stage for Calvert, who scored his first two goals in the span of three minutes midway through the second -- first tipping a Max Wanner point shot home at 10:39 and finishing off a rush with a perfect shot from the top of the slot at 13:52..
Calvert then capped off his three-goal night 4:10 into the third period, finishing off a three-on-one with Riley Niven and Daemon Hunt with a perfect shot top corner glove side on Kieper.
The natural hat trick was not only Calvert’s first, but it came after a slew of chances for the 18-year-old forward in recent outings, including more than his share of hit posts and crossbars.. He now has points in four of his last six games, with five goals and nine points over that span.
“Ever since Lars (Cordel Larson) got here, we’ve kind of been clicking a bit and that’s helped, he’s a lot of fun to play with,” Calvert said of his offensive surge. “Then Nivs (Riley Niven) coming back has helped a lot, so we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and keep providing as much energy as we can out there every game.”
Calvert’s final marker would close out scoring in the game, but not for a lack of effort and strategy by the Pats.
Regina pulled Kieper with 10 minutes to play in the contest while on the power play, and the Pats would actually end up with a six-on-three advantage for 25 seconds after the Warriors took another minor, but Moose Jaw was able to weather the storm.
Tetachuk was once again a major reason for that, as he capped the night with a 33 save performance, almost half of those coming in the third period. The Warriors had 28 shots on Kieper.
The Warriors are back in action on Friday night when they host the Swift Current Broncos. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
