On paper, the Moose Jaw Warriors looked like they had an easy time of it against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Any time you see a first-round sweep in a series, it’s easy to make that assumption.
But looks can be deceiving. And while the Warriors might have wrapped up things quickly against the Hurricanes, it wasn’t an easy task -- and that has the team in a positive frame of mind, knowing that they came out of a battle with few scars.
“They were all super close games until the end, and everybody knows how Lethbridge plays, they play super physical, they come out hard and never give up,” forward Brayden Yager told Warriors broadcaster James Gallo in the Game 4 post-game show. “The first game where we went to double overtime, it felt like that almost every night where there were a lot of battles. It was nice to get the four wins in a row, but we’re going to get back to work and get ready for the next one.”
Game 4 was a microcosm for the series -- the Hurricanes came out with some pressure in the early going, but the Warriors would respond, and a third-period surge helped them put things away.
“They definitely come out hard and in the first 10 minutes we realized they were going to put pressure on us,” said Yager, who had two goals in the deciding game. “I think we did a really good job of pushing back and not letting them push us around and put some pucks in the net.”
Yager received some additional good news on Thursday, as the Western Hockey League announced he was the East Division nominee for the Brad Hornung Most Sportsmanlike Player Award, thanks to putting up 28 goals and 78 points while amassing only 14 penalty minutes in 67 games.
His solid play has carried over into the postseason, as his work on a line with Jagger Firkus and Martin Rysavy has led to impressive offensive production. Yager has two goals and six points over the four games, while Firkus is second in playoff scoring with four goals and 10 points to go along with two goals and five points from Rysavy.
“I thought as the series went on, we all got better, not just myself but the whole team,” Yager said. “(Connor Ungar) was a rock back there all series, and when you have a guy playing like that it’s easy to trust him to do what he does and go to work down low.”
Ah yes, Connor Ungar.
The plaudits for the overage netminder have been many and well deserved, as he came up with big save after big save throughout the playoffs. None more so than in Game 1 of the series, when he turned aside 50 shots in a toe-to-toe battle with Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Bryan Thomson, who had 52 saves of his own.
All told, Ungar would allow only six goals through the four games and has a 1.29 goals against average to go along with a .953 save percentage. He was named the WHL’s Goaltender of the Week after allowing only two goals in the first two games of the series.
“Without a doubt he’s been our best player all season,” lauded Yager. “When you have him back there, it’s easy to trust him and we know he’s going to do his job. If we can put in two or three goals a game, we know we’re going to be in pretty good shape.”
The Warriors now await their second-round opponent, which could be one of three teams. That series is tentatively slated to begin Friday, Apr. 14, with home-ice advantage dependent on their opponent.
