The Moose Jaw Warriors just keep finding ways to win important games, and now they’ve accomplished something not seen since the 2017-18 Western Hockey League season.
After defeating the Western Conference-leading Prince George Cougars 5-1 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Saturday night, the Warriors scored three in the first period and went on to a home-ice 5-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders in a special matinee outing Sunday.
As a result, the Warriors saw their record improve to 10-6-0-0, making the local crew the first to 10 wins in the WHL this season in addition to giving Moose Jaw sole possession not only of first place in the Eastern Conference, but first place overall in the WHL.
The last time the Warriors accomplished that feat, the Brett Howden-led team would go on to post 52 wins and claim the Scotty Munro Trophy as the team with the best regular-season record.
Both weekend wins came against teams off to a solid start to the campaign. The Cougars are the highest-scoring team in the league and have led the Western Conference since day one, and Prince Albert is among a half-dozen teams who have held the Eastern Conference lead during the first month of the campaign.
Warriors 5, Prince George 1
The Warriors were on point both offensively and defensively from start to finish against the Cougars, and it showed on the scoreboard.
Denton Mateychuk scored his first two goals of the season while Atley Calvert had his best outing of the campaign with a goal and three points as Moose Jaw took their comfortable win.
Lucas Brenton scored the only goal in the first period as the Warriors took a 1-0 lead, but Firkus, Calvert and Mateychuk all had goals in the second period as the Warriors took control.
Matecyhuk made it 5-0 early in the third before Zac Funk broke Jackson Unger’s shut out bid with 7:40 gone in the final frame.
Brayden Schuurman, Kalem Parker and Martin Rysavy each had a pair of assists.
Unger was his usual self with 29 saves on the night, while the Warriors fired 42 shots on Prince George’s Ty Young.
The contest was played on Military Appreciation Night, with the team honouring the various local armed forces organizations throughout the game. The Warriors also wore special camouflage jerseys that fans could bid on during a silent auction.
Warriors 5, Prince Albert 4
On Sunday afternoon, the Firkus Circus came to town.
The Seattle Kraken prospect scored three unassisted goals and moved into a temporary tie for first in WHL scoring with 16 goals and 29 points as the Warriors held on for their one-goal win.
Lakovic and Mateychuk also scored for Moose Jaw, who led 3-0 after the first and 5-2 through two.
The Raiders were the better team in the third period, though, and that led to Kryzsztof Macias and Hayden Pakkala scoring to make it a one-goal game in the final 4:14. A late Warriors penalty added further drama, but Moose Jaw was able to get the kill and escape with the win.
Matej Kubiesa and Harrison Lodewyk scored for the Raiders in the second period.
Dmitri Fortin made his second appearance of the season in goal for Moose Jaw and turned aside 29 shots, while the Warriors had 36 shots on the Raiders’ Max Hildebrand.
The Warriors are back in action Friday, Nov. 3 when they travel to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings. Next home action is Thursday, Nov. 9 when the Brandon Wheat Kings are at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
