Oh, what a difference a day makes.
One night after the Moose Jaw Warriors put together a stellar showing in the Regina to win their season opener against the Pats, the local Western Hockey League squad struggled to capitalize against their arch-rivals on their way to dropping a 6-3 decision in their home opener at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
And sure enough, Connor Bedard played a huge role in it all.
The Pats phenom was held off the scoresheet in the season opener, but had a hat trick and four points on Saturday to lead Regina to victory,
The difference between the two games was what one might expect from the current version of the Warriors -- turnovers and mistakes by the youth-laden squad proved to be too much to overcome in game two, especially with Regina making the most of their opportunities.
Thing is, early in the proceedings on Saturday night, the Warriors looked solid, building a 3-1 lead before Regina reeled off five unanswered goals through the second and third periods.
“I think we had a really good start, we had opportunities in the game to extend the lead and when it was 3-1, I thought if we could have made it 4-1 it would have been a bit of a different animal,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary, “But as the game went along, puck management began to be an issue and credit to Regina, they work hard and create turnovers, but we’re a young group learning their way through things here and I’m really proud of how they handled the two games here, for sure.”
Nathan Pilling got things started for the Warriors early in the contest, and it was a slick one, as he took a feed from Brayden Yager breaking into the Regina zone, took a couple strides down the left wing and roofed a shot blocker side on Pats starter Drew Sim.
The power play marker came 4:57 into the proceedings.
Moose Jaw made it 2-0 with 8:34 to go in the first, and it was Atley Calvert scoring the type of goal he’s well-known for -- going hard to the net and finding a rebound that he chipped home with a quick shot.
Much like the meeting between the two teams a night earlier, that edge didn’t last long.
Borya Valis got Regina on the board 23 seconds later, taking a pass from the corner from Bedard and slipping a shot home five-hole on Jackson Unger.
Regina looked to have an opportunity to tie the game after a scrum to end the first period led to a Pats power play, but it would be the Warriors who took advantage. Yager jumped on a turnover at the Warriors line and went down the right wing before beating Sim with a shot blocker side only 1:14 into the second.
Regina used some good puck movement in the Warriors zone to get one back midway through the second. Valis sent a pass from the left corner all the way back to the blueline for Parker Berge, and his shot from the point would find its way through traffic and past a screened Unger.
Bedard then tied the game 3-3 with 5:40 to play in the period, jumping on a neutral zone turnover at the end of a Moose Jaw power play, going down the right wing and scoring blocker side.
The Pats standout struck again shorthanded with 2:11 to go in the period, again taking advantage of a turnover and scoring on the ensuing breakaway.
Those kinds of mistakes -- breakdowns that lead to outstanding scoring chances for the opposition -- were the product of the Warriors’ youth, but O’Leary felt the end result could have been different with a bit of finish at the other end of the ice.
“You expect to see mistakes, and on our side of the redline we made some turnovers and missed some assignments, but on the flip side of that, we also had a lot of opportunities at the other end of the ice and that’s exciting for the young guys coming up,” O’Leary said. “There’s something to look forward to with a lot of skill and it’s a matter of growing and maturing and then those mistakes won’t happen.”
Easton Armstrong scored Regina’s fourth straight goal just over five minutes into the third, battling a loose puck out of the air in front of Unger and into the Warriors net.
Bedard finished off his hat trick with 2:29 to play, scoring into the empty net with Unger pulled for the extra attacker.
Unger finished with 33 saves on the night, Sim had 34 stops for the Pats.
Now to deal with not just the elephant in the room, but a whole herd of pachyderms.
The Warriors were missing no less than seven regulars from their line-up, six of those currently at National Hockey League camps.
That includes defencemen Max Wanner (Edmonton), Cole Jordan (Calgary) and Denton Mateychuk (Columbus) along with forwards Eric Alarie (Los Angeles), Martin Rysavy (Columbus) and Jagger Firkus (Seattle). Forward Robert Baco also sat out the final game of his five-game suspension.
The Warriors received their first piece of good news in that direction prior to the game, with Jordan being returned to the team by the Flames, and expectations are the majority of that crew will be back in Moose Jaw in the near future.
And that’ll make the next meeting between the Warriors and Pats just a little bit different.
“There’s seven guys we’re expecting to be back in the line-up, maybe as early as next weekend and that certainly changes the look of our team,” O’Leary said. “But at the same time it was a great learning experience for these young guys. I think we made real steps getting back to our identity as a team and whoever is in the line-up, we’ll be a better team next week than we were this week.”
The Warriors are back in action on Friday, Sept. 30 when they host the Prince Albert Raiders. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
