It was a historic World Junior Hockey Championship for the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2023-24.
No less than three players -- and eventually four -- were members of Team Canada at the tournament over the holiday break in Gothenburg, Sweden, the most to represent Moose Jaw in the team’s 40-year history and the highest number of players from a single CHL team in modern history.
Defenceman Denton Mateychuk and forward Brayden Yager cracked the line-up outright, with Jagger Firkus added to the Team Canada roster midway through the event and recently acquired forward Matthew Savoie also seeing action in the tournament.
Unfortunately, they ended up with a disappointing finish after a last-minute goal led to Czechia taking a 3-2 win in the quarter-final on Jan, 2, knocking Canada from the tournament.
Both Mateychuk and Yager emerged as impact players for Canada, and for the Warriors’ captain, that was almost a given heading into selection camp.
Mateychuk was considered by most onlookers to be a lock for the top defensive pairing and that was exactly the case, as he played a huge number of minutes alongside QMJHL Drummondville’s Maveric Lamoureux throughout the event.
All told, he’d pick up four assists and lead Canada in time on ice with 122 minutes and 44 seconds though five games, which worked out to 138 total shifts and 24:32 on the ice per outing.
Mateychuk was also the subject of a hilarious feature on TSN lampooning his intensity and focus, with the video currently on TSN’s Youtube channel under ‘How Serious Could This Player Be About Hockey’.
Yager capped his tournament as Canada’s second-leading scorer with two goals and five points through the five games while also tying the team lead with a plus-six plus/minus.
Yager scored his first World Juniors goal against Latvia and added another marker against Germany before nearly scoring the biggest goal of his hockey career against Czechia, when a third-period shot had the goaltender beat but went off the post.
He’d cap the tournament with 63:45 of ice time while playing with various linemates, averaging 81 shifts and 12:45 on ice.
Firkus had endured the heartbreak of being one of the last cuts out of selection camp despite averaging two points a game in Western Hockey League action leading up to Worlds. As injuries began to pile up for Canada -- including a ding to Savoie that caused him to miss the game against Germany -- he ended up getting the call mid-tournament to join Team Canada.
That led to Firkus putting up three points in the Warriors win over Regina on Dec. 29, getting the call that evening, travelling to Gothenburg immediately after and catching up with Canada in time for their game Sunday morning.
Firkus didn’t see action in the tournament, but got lots of camera time on TSN thanks to his unique late addition.
Savoie -- who represented the Wenatchee Wild during Worlds but was traded to Moose Jaw shortly after Canada returned home -- played through an undisclosed minor injury and had a single assist in the tournament.
One of Canada’s assistant captains, Savoie played 63:36 over 77 shifts, averaging 15:54 on the ice each game.he played.
Czechia would fall to Sweden 5-2 in their semifinal but put together a remarkable comeback to defeat Finland 8-5 and win bronze -- making former Czechia national team players and current Moose Jaw Warriors Martin Rysavy and Vojtech Port exceptionally happy.
The overage Rysavy played for Czechia in the 2023 World Juniors and won silver after falling to Canada in overtime.
The U.S. lived up to their advance billing and defeated Sweden 6-2 to claim gold on Thursday night.
