To put it simply, the Moose Jaw Warriors haven’t had a lot of luck against the Saskatoon Blades in Western Hockey League action this season.
The head-to-head record from the recently concluded campaign bears this out – the Tribe only managed one win against the Blades in the regular season, that being a 3-2 victory coming way back on Dec. 7 in the second meeting between the two teams. Overall, the Warriors were 1-5, including losses in all three games at home.
But there’s a caveat to all that, it’s one that has Moose Jaw Warriors head coach Tim Hunter optimistic heading into the series opener on Friday in Saskatoon.
“We’ll be healthy come playoff time,” Hunter said before pointing out the team had been less than ideal for one reason or another in every meeting with the Blades. “Everyone will be ready to play and that’s another good thing we haven’t had, a healthy line-up when we played Saskatoon this year. We’ve had guys who were suspended, guys who were injured, guys who were sick, so we weren’t a 100 per cent team going into play those guys.
“So we’re looking forward to that for next Friday when we get another chance to play them.”
There was some concern with a late-season nick to high-scoring rookie forward Brayden Tracey -- who had a goal and three points in six games against Saskatoon -- but all reports indicate his time off was largely precautionary and he’ll be as close to healthy as a player can be at this time of season come puck drop tomorrow night.
Tristin Langan also escaped a potentially negative situation, as he could have received a suspension for stepping up to defend rookie Daemon Hunt in a post-game fight against the Swift Current Broncos last Saturday. The league reviewed the situation and the referee’s report and opted for no supplementary discipline.
So the key now is to find a way to get things done against a team that’s been tough to play against for the Tribe all season long.
“It’s just focussing on playing the full 60,” Langan said when asked about what it would take to beat the Blades. “We’ve had lapses in games and we can’t have that in the playoffs, especially against a team like Saskatoon, where if you take shift off they can score. So we just have to be better there.”
Saskatoon finished the regular season with a 45-15-8-0 record, good enough for second in the East Division, 10 points ahead of the Warriors, who finished with a 40-20-6-2 mark. Both teams are playing well heading into the postseason, with Moose Jaw having won three straight and holding a 6-4-0-0 mark in their last 10 games. Saskatoon lost their season finale, but are 8-2-0-0 in their last 10.
As could be expected for a player who finished the season with 53 goals and 114 points, Langan had his share of success against Saskatoon with six goals and nine points in five games. Justin Almeida – 33 goals and 111 points in the regular season – was nearly as effective with two goals and eight points.
For the Blades, Max Gerlach has five goals and eight points in six games against the Tribe, while Gary Haden (3-4-7) and Kirby Dach (2-5-7) were right behind him. Interestingly enough, former Warriors defenceman Brandon Schuldhaus has four goals and six points and was also one of the top point getters against Moose Jaw.
Brodan Salmond saw action in goal in five games, posting a 1-4 record with a 4.30 goals against average and .883 save percentage; Adam Evanoff played three contests with a 4.06 GAA and .900 save percentage. On the other side, Nolan Maier played four contests and had a 3-1-0-0 mark with a 2.26 GAA and .907 SP; Dorrin Luding played the other two with a 2.50 GAA and .912 SP.
Games 1 and 2 of the series go Friday and Saturday in Saskatoon before reverting back to Moose Jaw Tuesday and Wednesday. Game times are 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
