The Moose Jaw Warriors are undoubtedly one of the scariest teams in the Western Hockey League right now.
Despite missing three NHL first round draft picks from their line-up, the Warriors pulled off an absolute miracle comeback in Swift Current against the Broncos before eventually dropping a 7=6 decision in Western Hockey League action.
Moose Jaw scored five goals -- yes, five -- over the span of 12 minutes in the third period to overcome a 6-1 deficit in one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent team history, and one that will give the team plenty of positives to build on heading into play next week.
The loss snapped the Warriors’ five-game winning streak and saw them fall to 22-15-0-2 to remain in third place in the WHL Eastern Conference, a point back of the idle Medicine Hat Tigers..
Of course, that all comes with the caveat of all caveats -- the Warriors were missing team captain Denton Mateychuk, forward Brayden Yager and forward Matthew Savoie, all members of Team Canada at the recently concluded World Juniors, in addition to defenceman Vojtech Port, who is recovering from surgery and would have been a member of Team Czechia.
All three Team Canada players will be in the line-up next week and Port will likely return in mid January.
The Broncos got on the board first, when Clarke Caswell outdueled a Warriors defender breaking into the zone to create a two-on-one before finding Ty Coupland in the slot for the one-timer at 3:28.
A high-sticking double-minor to Coupland gave the Warriors a chance to get that one back, and they’d do just that. Martin Rysavy’s shot from the high slot found its way through traffic and into the back of the net with 7:08 gone.
Not long after, Warriors starter Dmitri Fortin made a stunning save to preserve the tie, reaching back with his stick to deflect the puck on a three-on-one that the Broncos thought they had scored on.
A quick breakout led to Swift Current’s second goal with 7:08 to play in the frame. Rylan Gould got off the initial shot to create a huge rebound into the slot, and Luke Mistelbacher put a shot home glove side for the 2-1 edge.
The Broncos then made it a two-goal lead with just over eight minutes to play in the second when Brady Birnie got off a shot on the rush and Coupland put the rebound home five hole.
Lynden Lakovic had a couple of good chances on a shift with three minutes to play in the period, including a partial breakaway that Broncos goaltender Matthew Kieper was able to get a pad on.
Mistelbacher and Connor Hvidston then made it 5-1 with goals 10 seconds apart, and things looked all but academic from there.
Connor Gabriel extended the lead to 6-1 only 11 seconds into the third, but the Warriors completely changed the game over the next 10 minutes.
Atley Calvert got things started when he scored on a play at the front of the net a minute after the Broncos’ sixth goal, and Ethan Semeniuk would make it 6-3 with a shot off the rush 24 seconds later to make it a three-goal game.
Jagger Firkus kept the roll going 1:36 later when he finished off a two-on-one with Calvert, and Rilen Kovacevic made it a one-goal game 28 seconds after that marker when he scored on a brilliant individual effort.
Firkus then finished off the comeback with the Warriors’ fifth-straight goal, finishing off a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play with Pavel McKenzie with 8:09 to play.
Swift Current would find a way to get things done, though, with Josh Filmon scoring the game winner with 6:06 to play.
Fortin finished the game with 39 saves, Kieper had 34 stops.
Warrior fans will likely have their first chance to see the team at full power this coming Wednesday when the Victoria Royals are in town. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
