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Warriors turn in dominating performance on way to win over Calgary

Moose Jaw newcomer Larson joins Firkus with three-point nights as Warriors roll to 8-2 win at Mosaic Place
Warriors Mateychuk
Denton Mateychuk returned to the Warriors line-up on Wednesday.

When Moose Jaw Warriors forward Cordel Larson arrived in the Friendly City only hours before his first game with his new team, there had to be all sorts of questions as to how things would go.

As it turns out, the answer is very, very well.

The 20-year-old former four-year Spokane Chiefs veteran scored twice and added an assist in his debut in a Warriors uniform as Moose Jaw rolled to an 8-1 victory over the Calgary Hitmen at Mosaic Place.

The Warriors improved to 18-16-3-1 with the win, moving into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference with Brandon and Saskatoon, four points up on Calgary and nine back of Red Deer.

“It was great,” Larson said of his first game in Moose Jaw. “The guys all welcomed me this morning and that helped a lot, getting to know different guys and getting names and all that. And then obviously with my linemates we kind of had a connection right away, we got in on the forecheck and turned over pucks in their end and created some scoring chances right off the bat.”

Larson played alongside Atley Calvert and Riley Niven on the night and it didn’t take long for to have an impact -- only three minutes into the game, Larson forced a turnover at the side of the Calgary net, leading to a perfect scoring chance for Niven that he wouldn’t miss.

“He’s as advertised,” coach Mark O’Leary said with a smile. “He’s fast, he’s tenacious and he’s hard on pucks and he has some skill level to go with it. I think he’s going to be a real popular guy here in Moose Jaw.”

The Warriors came out absolutely firing, generating scoring chances in the game’s opening seconds. It would be Jagger Firkus who would break through first, going in on a breakaway and lifting a shot high glove side to beat Calgary starter Ethan Buenaventura 2:21 into the contest.

Niven’s goal made it 2-0 3:33 into the game, and Moose Jaw was off and running.

“I thought our start was awesome, getting those two quick goals right away took the pressure off quite a bit and helped us settle into our game, then from there we just kind of took over,” said Larson, who had plenty of family and friends in from his hometown in Weyburn for his debut back in Saskatchewan. “I thought all the forwards and D were great tonight and (goaltender) Carl (Tetachuk) had a great game for us, he held steady through their push, we weathered their storm and took it took them a little bit.”

Larson celeb
Moose Jaw Warriors forward Cordel Larson celebrates his first Warriors goal. Nick Pettigrew

Firkus’ second goal came 2:26 into the second period, and was another laser-pointer wrist shot that got the job done, this one coming from the face-off dot as he avoided the check of a Calgary defenceman..

The Warriors just kept up the pressure and pouring shots on net and were rewarded twice more in quick succession after Firkus’ goal.

Max Wanner scored at 5:57 after being left all alone on the right side of the slot, going bar-down with ripper of a wrist shot, and 12 seconds later, it was Lucas Brenton’s turn to hit the scoresheet, with his shot from the point finding it’s way through traffic and home.

Seeing the defence get in on the scoring action came with an interesting aside -- with Denton Mateychuk returning from injury, the game marked the first time the team had their full pre-season pencilled-in defensive line-up since the start of the campaign.

“You look at your team and have it up on the board with what it looks like, and it’s when everybody is healthy,” said O’Leary. “It’s not all the time where you get that where everyone is in the line-up, certainly on defence. We’re excited about it and we’re looking forward to games down the road here with everyone back.”

Larson scored his first as a Warrior at the 12:26 mark of the second, taking a feed from Mateychuk, finding a bit of space and beating Buenaventura with a shot low to the glove side.

Tetachuk saw his shutout bid snapped with 39.4 seconds remaining in the second period, with Calgary’s Riley Fiddler-Schultz scoring on a two-man advantage to send Moose Jaw into the third leading 6-1

Graydon Siepmann got one more back for Calgary 10:01 into the third, but the Warriors would respond on the power play less than a minute later, this time with Ryder Korczak doing the honours.

Larson picked up his second of the contest with four seconds left, giving Calvert a pair of assists on the niight. Team captain Daemon Hunt, Cole Jordan and Nathan Pilling also had two helpers each while Firkus joined Larson in having a three-point night.

“We were really excited about this one, coming off two losses we knew we wanted to jump back on real quick and tonight was a big one, they’re climbing in the standings and have games in hand,” O’Leary said of the significance of the win. “So we knew it was important, especially going on the road here with three tough games, it was important to be going out feeling good about ourselves.”

In total, 14 players ended up with points on the night, a level of balanced scoring O’Leary feels will be important to the team’s success down the road.

“I think it makes for a fun dressing room and fun bench when everyone feels like they’re a part of things,” he said. “We’ve talked about it a lot, but we feel really good when we can roll four lines in five-on-five situations, everybody is involved. They feel confident, they feel a part of things, and it’s  a great night all around.”

Tetachuk finished the game with 18 saves to earn the win, while the Warriors fired 44 shots at Buenaventura, including 23 in the second period.

The Warriors are back in action this weekend, when they travel to Red Deer to face the Rebels on Saturday and are in Calgary on Sunday, with a 4 p.m. start time.

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