It wasn’t all that long ago that the Moose Jaw Warriors needed a herculean effort just to find a couple of dozen wins in the Western Hockey League regular season.
Those days appear to be long in the past -- and now they’re all about pushing to get as far as they can in the playoffs
The Warrior capped the 2023 WHL regular season with a 41-24-0-3 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and home ice advantage in the first round of the postseason. It was the first time Moose Jaw had hit the 40-win milestone since the 2018-19 campaign.
The Warriors won their first-round playoff series with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in four games and faced Winnipeg in the second round -- the same situation as last season, when Moose Jaw defeated Saskatoon in five games before losing in five to the Ice. They made it a lot more interesting this time around, taking a 2-1 lead in the series before losing at overtime and eventually falling in six.
Jagger Firkus led the team in scoring in the regular season, putting up 40 goals and 88 points in 66 games to finish 10th in WHL scoring. Brayden Yager wasn’t all that far behind, scoring 28 goals and capping his campaign with 78 points, while hometown product Atley Calvert hit the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career and finished his season with 73 points in 67 games.
Team captain Denton Mateychuk also had a solid season offensively, with the slick defenceman scoring eight goals and 65 points to tied for seventh in scoring among rearguards.
Then there’s goaltender Connor Ungar. The overage netminder was among the league leaders all season long, finishing with a 2.58 goals against average and .925 save percentage to go along with 26-7-0-3 record -- top ten in the WHL in each category.
The 2023 off-season wasn't as busy as the previous campaign, but there was one bit of good news: Yager became the latest Warrior to join the National Hockey League when he was selected in the first round, 14th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins
Head coach Mark O’Leary is in his 12th season with the team, the past four seasons as head coach. He’s joined on the bench by assistant coach Scott King.
You can follow along with the Warriors throughout the season on www.whl.ca, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mjwarriors and through their website at www.mjwarriors.ca.
Tickets for games are available at www.sasktix.ca, and contact the team at (306) 694-5711 with any inquiries.
