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Warriors sweep home-and-home with Broncos

Tribe take 4-2 win in Swift Current for first back-to-back wins since early November
Their opponent might not have been among strongest they’ll face in their final dozen games of the season, but when you’re the Moose Jaw Warriors and trying to build for the future, you’ll take the wins whenever they come.

The Warriors had two-point nights from four players as they took a 4-2 win over the Swift Current Broncos in Western Hockey League action Saturday in Swift Current.

The win, combined with their 6-2 victory at Mosaic Place a night earlier, marked the first set of back-to-back wins for the local squad since early November, when they defeated the Winnipeg Ice 3-2 on Nov. 8 and followed with a 3-1 win over the Broncos on Nov. 9.

The Warriors improved to 14-39-4-0 on the season and sit eight points up on last-place Swift Current, who have now lost 14 straight.

“It’s been a long time since we strung two wins together, so just getting a little bit of success helps with everything,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said on WarriorsTV. “We’ve talked all along that you try and drive home a message and work on these progressions, but if you’re not finding success it’s hard to buy in.

“So I’m proud of the group here, it wasn’t a pretty one tonight, but we’ve had pretty ones where we’ve come up on the short end of the stick so it’s good for the boys.”

Like Friday night, it was the Broncos who got on the scoresheet first, as Aiden Bulych scored 4:49 into the game for the quick 1-0 lead.

Logan Doust would get that one back for the Warriors seven minutes later, and 2:10 after that it was Ryder Korczak with his team-leading 17th goal of the season to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead out of the first.

The Broncos’ Kye Buchanan tied the game five minutes into the second period, but Tate Popple scored the game winner – his second in as many nights – at 7:22 of the frame and Calder Anderson added an insurance marker with 3:20 left in the second.

Popple and Doust each added an assist and drew praise from O’Leary for their performance through the weekend.

“Those guys play honest and they play the right way,” he said. “It’s nice when those guys are rewarded for playing that way, that’s what we needed here tonight, make sure we did the right things at the right moments. It’s all part of the process and those guys are good examples of that.”

Korczak also picked up a helper, Eric Alarie added two assists.

Boston Bilous got the start in goal and turned aside 32 shots, the Warriors had 34 on Isaac Poulter.

The Warriors capped their three-games-in-three-nights weekend in Prince Albert against the East Division-leading Raiders (33-17-5-4) on Sunday. Game time is 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

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