The Moose Jaw Warriors just didn’t have an answer for a guy named Conner on Sunday afternoon. And this time, it wasn’t the one from Regina.
Conner Roulette scored a hat trick in the first 25:12 of the game and the Saskatoon Blades would go on to a 4-1 win over the Warriors in Western Hockey League action in Saskatoon.
Moose Jaw fell to 4-3 with the loss and sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, Saskatoon improved to 5-2 and moved past the Warriors into third.
Robert Baco got things going for the Warriors with his first of the season only 3:58 into the game, and on Moose Jaw’s first shot of the night, too boot. Atley Calvert found Cole Jordan breaking into the Saskatoon zone, and the Warriors rearguard beat his man wide before finding Baco with a backdoor pass. The Slovakian import had all day and a gaping net to shoot into, and he’d make no mistake.
Saskatoon got that one back four minutes later, as Vaughn Watterodt took advantage of a turnover in the Warriors zone and hit a wide-open Roulette with a cross-ice feed. Roulette would have all day to fire a shot top shelf glove side on Jackson Unger, tying the game 1-1.
Another defensive zone turnover led to Roulette scoring his second of the period at 10:50, taking a feed out front from Ben Saunderson and outduelling a defender at the top of the crease before stuffing a shot home five-hole.
The goal came seconds after Blades goaltender Ethan Chadwick absolutely robbed Jordan on a backdoor one-timer, and Chadwick would also stop Brayden Yager on a shorthanded breakaway with just over three minutes to play in the period.
Roulette finished off his hat trick at 5:12 of the second period, getting off a perfect one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle on the power play and beating Unger high blocker side.
Josh Pillar made it 4-1 Saskatoon at 9:47, taking a feed from the boards from Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Rowan Calvert into the slot and putting a shot home.
That was it for Unger on the afternoon as he faced 23 shots in a period and a half and gave way to Connor Ungar.
Ungar picked up where he left off in the win over Winnipeg less than 24 hours earlier with a slew of stellar stops, finishing with 29 saves the rest of the way, Chadwick capped his night with 17 saves.
The Warriors are back in action on Friday, Oct. 14 when they host the Red Deer Rebels. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
