Kamloops Blazers goaltender Dylan Ernst played a single season with the Moose Jaw WINMAR Warriors, but it was a memorable one indeed.
The Weyburn product played a key role in the Warriors going all the way to the league final in the 2019-20 season and could have had a title to his name had the pandemic not struck.
On Friday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, it was like old times, as Ernst made big save after big save and caught a few breaks as his team took a 5-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League action.
It was another continuation of Moose Jaw’s struggles as of late as they dropped their fifth straight, with each of those lossses coming in what were essentially one-goal games. The Warriors fell to 17-14-0-2 with the loss and now sit in a tie for fourth place with the Prince Albert Raiders, a point up on Red Deer and a point back of Brandon.
As well as things turned out for Ernst, it could have very easily become a long night for the overage netminder as the Warriors once again created chance after chance but couldn’t get the big goals when they needed them.
“It seems like a lot of games have been going that way recently, and all we can do is learn from it and move forward,” said a visibly disappointed Atley Calvert, who scored the first two goals for the Warriors.
“It’s the same things all year, one night it’s one thing and the next night it’s another thing. So at the end of the day we’re going to have to figure it out here, eventually put all the details together for a night and that should result in a win.”
The Warriors ran into penalty trouble early in the first period after taking minors seconds apart, and Kamloops would take advantage. Kai Matthew scored the game’s opening goal with 8:11 gone and seconds left in the first minor.
Calvert got that one back before the period was out, getting to the front of the net and jamming home a pass from Jagger Firkus, who had returned from World Junior selection camp on Wednesday night.
The goal came with 8:23 to play in the first, but the tie game didn’t last long into the secondas
Ashton Ferster scored on a tip in front of the net with 3:33 gone to make it a 2-1 Blazers lead.
Kamloops then extended their edge to two as the Warriors’ run of consistent bad luck continued. A simple pass to the front of the net deflected off a player and in, with Jordan Keller getting credit for the goal.
The Blazers looked to extend their lead with a power play late in the game, but the Warriors would have the best scoring chances -- first when Firkus rang a shot off the post, and later when Martin Rysavy put a shot off the top of Ernst’s pad on a two-on-one.
The big saves and missed chances just kept coming after that, much to the Warriors’ continued frustration.
“We have to do a better job getting in front of him when he’s playing that well,” Calvert said. “When you get in front of him he can’t see the puck. So at the end of the day if we do that and get shots on net, we should get a lot more goals than we’ve been getting.”
Warriors goaltender Dmitri Fortin had to be sharp as the period progressed and came through big with two minutes remaining, stopping an initial Blazers shot and then getting across for a huge save on the rebound to keep it a two-goal game.
The Warriors received their first power play of the game with six seconds left in the second, and they’d capitalize soon after the break.
Calvert finished off a slick passing play with Firkus and Rysavy for his second of the game and 20th goal of the season.
Not long after that goal, Harper Lolacher nearly tied the game when he had an opportunity on a backdoor pass, but Ernst would find a way to make a diving save that would send Lolacher flying through the air.
The next couple of minutes saw another Warriors power play, and a hit crossbar and two nearly impossible saves would preserve the Blazers’ one-goal lead.
Ferster took advantage of Kamloops’ fourth power play of the game to make it a 4-2 contest at 10:23, but Pavel McKenzie would get that back just over two minutes later, finishing off a goal-mouth scramble by putting home his own rebound.
The Warriors pulled Fortin for the extra attacker with two minutes to play and it was more of the same: chance after chance, no goals, leading to en empty netter by Shea van Olm with eight seconds remaining.
Fortin finished his night with 40 saves, while the Warriors had 42 shots on Ernst.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Brandon for their last game before the Christmas break. Next home action is Dec. 29 when the Regina Pats are in town, with game time 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
