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Warriors surrender pair of goals in final period, close out road trip with loss to Calgary

Late-game penalties prove costly as Moose Jaw drops 5-3 decision to Hitmen on Teddy Bear Toss night in Calgary
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Things might not have ended the way they would have liked, but there’s no denying the Moose Jaw Warriors put together an exceptional showing on their longest road trip of the season.

The Warriors capped their seven-games-in-14 days swing through the B.C. and Central Divisions with a 5-3 loss to the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday afternoon, capping the trip with a 5-2-0-0 record.

As a result, Moose Jaw is now 18-10-0-0 on the season and remain in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, two points back of Saskatoon and four back of Red Deer for second.

The Warriors got things going 4:29 into the contest when Denton Mateychuk got off a shot from the point that Atley Calvert was able to tip top corner glove side on Hitmen goaltender Brayden Peters.

Just over two minutes later, London Hoillett jumped on a face-off win by Tomis Marinkovic and put a shot off the post and past Jackson Unger, kicking off one of the greatest Christmas traditions in the WHL.

With over 16,000 fans in the building, thousands upon thousands of stuffed animals, toques and mittens rained down on the ice in the Calgary Saddledome as part of the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss.

The Hitmen are one of the top Teddy Bear Toss teams in the league, too, with the number of items gathered through the annual event often setting records in support of charities throughout the community.

All told, the game delay was about half an hour as rink staff and volunteers worked to clear the ice of the literal tons of items that had been thrown onto the ice.

Not long after play resumed, the Warriors had back-to-back power plays, but were unable to get a shot on net against the WHL’s top penalty-killing team.

The Hitmen had a couple of scoring chances as the period would progress, but it would be the Warriors who broke through next.

Brayden Yager finished off a long-range give-and-go with Martin Rysavy by breaking down his wing all alone and beating Peters with a shot low blocker side with 6:16 to play in the frame.

The Warriors’ two goals in the period came on their first two shots of the game, and Peters wouldn’t make his first save until 2:14 remained in the first.

It didn’t take long for Calgary to tie things up in the second period, as Zac Funk scored only 61 seconds into the frame to make it a 2-2 game.

That goal came on the heels of a series of great Calgary scoring chances in the period’s opening seconds, but Unger was able to hang on to the lead, albeit temporarily, thanks to a handful of spectacular saves.

The period settled into a back-and-forth affair until 4:13 remained when the Hitmen took the lead. Sean Tschigerl beat his defender to the outside on the rush and hit Riley Fiddler-Schultz with a cross-ice pass, and Fiddler-Schultz would make no mistake putting a shot home.

That lead didn’t last a minute.

Calvert scored his second of the game 30 seconds later, with his shot from the point deflecting off a Calgary defender in front and into the Hitmen goal.

Unfortunately for the local squad, that was the last good news on the night.

The Warriors took back-to-back penalties in the latter half of the third period, and Carter Yakemchuk would make them pay on both. He scored the eventual game-winner at the 7:55 mark and then put home the insurance marker 2:13 later.

Jagger Firkus was held without a point in the contest and saw his franchise-record-setting point streak end at 20 games.

Unger finished his night with 36 saves, while Peters had 17 stops in the win.

The Warriors will now have the week off before hosting the Hitmen on Friday, Dec. 9 in their own Teddy Bear Toss game. 

Fans are asked to bring a stuffed animal, toque or mittens in a plastic bag to throw in the ice after the Warriors’ first goal. All toys will be given to the ongoing Salvation Army Toy Drive.

Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

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