The Moose Jaw Warriors got the point they needed to officially clinch a spot in the Western Hockey League playoffs on Friday night.
They also came away with a morale-boosting win, as Josh Hoekstra scored in the 12th round of the shootout to give the Warriors a come-from-behind 4-3 victory in Swift Current.
The win came only hours after the WHL revealed the four suspended Warriors -- goaltender Connor Ungar, defenceman Max Wanner, defenceman Marek Howell and forward Lynden Lakovic -- will miss the remainder of the regular season and that head coach Mark O’Leary and general manager Jason Ripplinger had also received five game suspensions.
Moose Jaw improved to 37-22-0-3 with the victory, remaining five points clear of Lethbridge for fourth place in the Eastern Conference pending the result of their contest against Regina.
As well as it all turned out, things didn’t get off to a great start for the visitors on Friday night.
Matthew Ward nearly scored on a breakaway with eight minutes gone in the first, but seconds later he’d make another chance count, taking a goalline feed from Drew Englot and beating Jackson Unger with the game’s first goal.
Englot then made it 2-0 Swift Current by batting the puck out of the air during a goalmouth scramble with 3:03 remaining and 22 seconds later, Clake Caswell finished off an odd-man rush and by putting a shot home from the high slot.
Just like that, 3-0 Broncos.
The Warriors threw everything they had at Swift Current in the second period, creating a half-dozen outstanding scoring chances, but Broncos goaltender Reid Dyck was up to the task for much of the period. Atley Calvert had perhaps the best chance of the frame on a cross-ice one-timer with six minutes to play, but Dyck would get across to make the big save.
As strange as it might seem, that save marked a stunning turning point in the game, and before the period was out, it would be a tie game.
For all the chances by the Warriors elite goal-scorers, it was a player with a single goal to his credit that would snap Dyck’s shutout and start the rally. And it was one that will end up in the WHL Goals of the Week, too boot.
Defenceman Matthew Gallant drove into the Broncos zone, toe-dragged around a sliding defenceman, went in alone on the Swift Current net and put a shot home blocker side from the top of the crease.
The slick goal was just a sign of things to come, as Hoekstra then got the Warriors within one with just over two minutes to play in the period. The 19-year-old forward poked the puck away from a Broncos defenceman at the Warriors blueline and went in on a shorthanded breakaway before beating Dyck with 1:26 remaining in the period.
Atley Calvert then put home the Warriors’ third goal of the period with 36 seconds to play, staking out his position in front of the net and taking a feed from Denton Mateychuk before lifting the puck over Dyck’s pad blocker side.
And just like that, a 3-3 tie.
The third period solved nothing, and overtime saw Unger make a pair of huge saves, one in the first seconds when he went post-to-post to stop Ward on a backdoor pass and again in the final minute when he robbed Owen Pickering point blank in the slot.
Neither goaltender seemed to want the shootout to end, as despite going 12 rounds, only Josh Davies and Connor Hvidston would score for Swift Current, while Jagger Firkus and Martin Rysavy had the Warriors’ goals before Hoekstra’s game-winner.
Unger would finish with 40 saves on the night and was stellar after the first period, while Dyck had 36 saves for the Broncos.
The two teams will do it all over again on Saturday during Fan Appreciation Night. The Moose Jaw Express and Sask Promo-sponsored event will see the first 1,000 fans through the doors receive a pack of Warriors hockey cards to trade with their friends.
Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
