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Moose Jaw’s Calvert looking forward to another battle between Warriors and Pats

First meeting of regular season between Western Hockey League archrivals set for Friday night at Mosaic Place
Warriors Pats preseason Calvert
Warriors forward Atley Calvert battles with Regina’s Easton Armstrong for the puck during their pre-season match-up at Mosaic Place.
Moose Jaw Warriors forward Atley Calvert has a special perspective when it comes to the long-standing Western Hockey League rivalry between his crew and the Regina Pats.

Not only has he been a part of the whole thing the last two seasons, the Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product has seen many a game over the years at the Civic Centre and in Mosaic Place where all sorts of weird mayhem has taken place.

Now, the 18-year-old forward and his teammates are ready to once again resume hostilities when the Pats make their first trip to Moose Jaw on Friday night.

“It’s going to be fun, every time we play Regina, the intensity bumps up a little bit and the boys are ready to go,” Calvert said after practice on Thursday afternoon. “It going to be a good game and a lot of fun.”

The Warriors and Pats faced each other four times in the East Division Hub last season and things were fairly pedestrian: nothing too crazy out of the quartet of exceptionally close contests, which saw the two crews split the season series two games apiece.

That wasn’t the case in the final game between the two teams at the end of the 2019-20 season.

Warriors defenceman and now team captain Daemon Hunt flipped the puck into the stands at the final whistle of the Pats 7-4 victory at Brandt Centre back on Mar. 3, 2019, a seemingly innocuous move. But the game was Pats’ goaltender Spencer Welke’s first WHL win, and Hunt’s donation to the crowd caused Regina veteran Robbie Holmes to come off the bench and attack the 17-year-old, inciting a donneybrook that resulted in two players from each team being suspended.

Before that, you had Cody Beach stirring things up, Dustin Slade instigating all sorts of craziness and, of course, Theo Fleury making sure fight fans got their money’s worth.

“It’s always a battle against Regina, there are always some sort of shenanigans that go on,” Calvert said with a grin. “I can’t say for sure about (Friday) but I’m sure there’s going to be something that’s going on, every time we’ve played them something happens.”

Ideally for the Warriors, it all ends up with a Moose Jaw win. And if things go the way they have through the first couple of games, Calvert will likely find himself figuring into the result.

His performance in the home opener against Saskatoon was one of his best in a Warriors uniform, as he generated a host of scoring chances while finishing with four official shots -- and hitting yet another crossbar. Calvert did get his just desserts, though, with a perfect tip in front of the net finding it’s way home for his first goal of the season.

“I’ve hit quite a few actually already this season and especially in the pre-season, but it’s all good,” Calvert said of his ringers. “Getting that (goal) in the first game there kind of broke the ice for me, so I was happy with that.

“As a player you want to be around the net and try and get as many scoring chances a game as you can and hopefully a couple go in here and there. I feel like I’ve put myself in good spots and if you put yourself in good spots they’re going to go in eventually.”

One thing that’s for certain is the Warriors will be looking for a solid result not just against the Pats, but all their opponents this season. And they believe they have the horses to do it.

“It’s exciting,” Calvert said. “We have a good group here, it was good to get in those first couple of games and I’m just looking forward to get things going the rest of the season.”

Game time is 7 p.m., and fans are once again reminded that proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required. Click here for how you can go about that.

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