The Moose Jaw Warriors are officially in wait-and-see mode.
And it’s been quite a while since they’ve found themselves with this much time off in the Western Hockey League post-season.
With their 5-2 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night, the Warriors capped off their first best-of-seven first-round series with a four-games-to-none sweep.
That included a 2-1 double overtime victory in Game 1 and 5-2 win in Game 2 before the series moved on to Lethbridge, where the Warriors took a 6-2 win in Game 3 on Tuesday night.
The last time the Warriors swept a team in the post-season was way back in the 2004 WHL Playoffs, when the team led by Kyle Brodziak, Tomas Fleischmann and Mike Brodeur swept the Rick Rypien- and Josh Harding-led Pats in the first round. Their luck wouldn’t continue, though, as they ran into the Red Deer Rebels and Cam Ward and would fall in six games in the second round.
As one might expect, the Warriors will be looking for a far better result when the Eastern Conference semifinal kicks off in a week’s time -- with the only question now being who they’ll play.
Here are the different scenarios as of Thursday night, knowing that the Winnipeg Ice have also advanced:
- IF the Regina Pats upset the Saskatoon Blades in the first round and the Red Deer Rebels win their series with Calgary, the Warriors will face Red Deer in the second round and Winnipeg will face Regina.
- IF the Saskatoon Blades defeat the Regina Pats in the first round and the Red Deer Rebels win their series with Calgary, the Warriors will face the Winnipeg Ice in the second round and Saskatoon will take on Red Deer.
- IF the Regina Pats upset the Saskatoon Blades in the first round and the Calgary Hitmen upset the Red Deer Rebels, the Warriors will face Regina in the second round and Winnipeg will face Calgary.
- IF the Saskatoon Blades defeat the Regina Pats in the first round and the Calgary Hitmen upset the Red Deer Rebels, the Warriors will face Saskatoon in the second round and Winnipeg will take on Calgary.
Saskatoon and Regina are tied at two games apiece after back-to-back two-goal comebacks and overtime wins by the Blades, while Red Deer holds a 3-1 series lead on Calgary. Both those series resume Friday night in Saskatoon and Red Deer respectively.
