With two -- and now three -- of their top players playing for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, the vast majority of the hockey world was of the opinion the Moose Jaw Warriors would be in for some tough times during the holiday stretch.
Apparently, the team didn’t get the memo.
Despite missing captain Denton Mateychuk, forward Brayden Yager and the recently-recalled Jagger Firkus, the Warriors put together a gritty and hard-working effort against the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night, battling to a 2-1 victory at the Art Hauser Centre.
The win was the third straight for Moose Jaw, who saw their record improve to 20-14-0-1. The Brandon Wheat Kings also won on Saturday, meaning the Warriors remain in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, a point back of the Wheaties.
The first period was largely uneventful, with only a handful of marginal scoring chances for either team. The Raiders’ Terrell Goldsmith had one early when he took a pass into the slot but missed his shot at the wide-open corner, and Moose Jaw’s Brayden Schuurman had a couple of chances driving to the net but was unable to score.
Easton Kovacs would open scoring for the Raiders, with his shot from the boards finding its way past a screened Jackson Unger with 47 seconds to play in the first period.
The Warriors would get that one back with 5:09 gone in the second. Atley Calvert worked the puck off the end boards into the face-off circle against a Raiders defender and sent a pass to Pavel McKenzie after being hauled down. McKenzie had all sorts of time and space in the slot, and he’d fire a shot home blocker side for his eighth of the season.
Schuurman was then rewarded for his ongoing hard work, scoring his 10th of the season with 6:50 remaining after taking a pass from Ethan Semeniuk on the rush and putting a shot from the right face-off circle top shelf blocker side.
The first power play of the game came with just over eight minutes remaining, but the Warriors’ penalty kill was able to come up big, holding the Raiders to only a couple of chances.
Prince Albert pulled goaltender Max Hildebrand for the extra attacker with just under two minutes remaining, but the Warriors defenders were able to keep the Raiders from getting any serious chances until the final seconds.
Unger had a rare relatively pedestrian night by his standards, facing only 26 shots instead of the usual 40-plus most nights. The Warriors had 22 shots on Hildebrand.
The Warriors are back in action on New Year’s Day when they travel to Regina to face the Pats, with puck drop for that contest at 4 p.m. Next home action is Friday, Jan. 5 when the Raiders are in Moose Jaw. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
And you can catch the three Warriors and Team Canada in action at 12:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon when they take on Germany, with the game broadcast on TSN.
