If the Moose Jaw Warriors keep having games like Wednesday night, the whole team will have a full head of grey hair by the time the season comes to an end.
After a slow start, the Warriors created chance after chance in the second half of the game and had every opportunity in the world to find a win against the Red Deer Rebels, but would go on to a 5-1 loss in Western Hockey League action at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The defeat was the first for Moose Jaw in their last five games and saw the Warriors fall to 17-11-0-1, missing a chance to leap over idle Medicine Hat for second in the Eastern Conference. A win would have also turned Saturday’s contest against the Saskatoon Blades into a first-place showdown, but Saskatoon continues to sit four points up on the Warriors for top spot.
“I think we waited a little too long to get going, we needed to jump on them and check a little harder early on, but we waited and waited and waited until it was just too late,” said Warriors forward Brayden Schuurman, who himself had a few opportunities as the game progressed.
“We get on them early and it’s maybe a different story and we don’t have to climb back into it.”
As Schuurman alluded to, the Warriors didn’t get off to the greatest of starts, as they only managed a single shot in the first nine minutes.
Moose Jaw had a bit more pressure as the period progressed, but Red Deer would get on the board first. Dwayne Jean Jr. finished off a three-on-one after a turnover at the Warriors blueline, taking a cross-crease pass from Samuel Drancak for the game’s opening marker at 6:45.
Red Deer then carried play through the first half of the second period, but the Warriors began to tilt the ice in their favour as things progressed. That led to a handful of great scoring chances in the final couple minutes, but Rebels goaltender Chase Wutzke was up for the challenge -- including a wide-open one-timer by Lynden Lakovic that the Rebels goaltender was able to make a huge glove save on.
The two teams ended up on a four-on-four to start the third period and the Warriors made the most of it, generating a handful of chances before Denton Mateychuk found Jagger Firkus on the wing for the one-timer into the wide-open net at 1:59.
The goal extended Mateychuk’s team-record point-streak to 22 games, dating back to his return from Columbus at the beginning of October.
Little changed as the third reached the midway point, but one breakdown led to a Red Deer rush and Frantisek Formanek would ring one off the crossbar and in at the 10:15 mark to give Red Deer a 2-1 lead.
From that point on, it was all Warriors as the home team had every opportunity to score in the final 10 minutes -- including a handful of goal-mouth scrambles where even the slightest of breaks would have tied the game -- but they’d be unable to find the goal they needed.
“You have to give credit to their goalie and their team, they were blocking a lot of shots and their goalie was battling, so credit to them for that too,” Schuurman said. “It happens, it’s hockey and at the end of the day we can’t control those bounces. But as long as we’re getting those opportunities, they’re going to go in more often than not.”
Talon Brigley and Kai Uchaz scored empty net goals in the final 1:11 and Evan Smith scored in garbage time to finish off Red Deer’s offence.
Wutzke made 21 saves to earn the win while Jackson Unger had 24 stops in the loss.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday against the Saskatoon Blades on Teddy Bear Toss Night. Fans are asked to bring a new unwrapped toy, toque or mittens to throw on the ice after the Warriors’ first goal, with all items being donated to the Salvation Army for those less fortunate during the Christmas holidays.
Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
