The Moose Jaw Winmar Warriors know they can win games in the Sask Male AAA Hockey League, now the quest is to find ways to do so consistently.
The past weekend wasn’t one of those times, as after winning their previous two contests, the Warriors lost both ends of a weekend set with the Prince Albert Mintos in Prince Allbert.
The Warriors dropped a 4-1 decision on Saturday night before falling 6-1 in the rematch on Sunday afternoon. As a result, they’ve fallen back to 7-10-0-0 on the season and are tied for seventh place in the 12-team league, six points back of the Mintos.
Saturday’s contest saw Moose Jaw get off to a tough start, as Ashton Tait and Van Taylor scored just over a minute apart midway through the first period to give the Mintos a 2-0 lead.
Tait then made it 3-0 with the lone goal of the second period, and while Connor Miller got one back for Moose Jaw with a power play goal at 9:11 of the third, that’s as close as they’d get.
Owen Dyck added an empty netter with 1:41 to play to close out scoring.
Ryan Bain got the start in goal for Moose Jaw and didn’t have a busy night, facing 15 shots, while the Warriors fired 29 at Prince Albert netminder Jayden Kraus.
The rematch Sunday was close as could be through two periods, as Miller scored on the power play 2:44 into the proceedings, only to see Kelan Simmonds reply for Prince Albert at the 9:46 mark.
There the score remained until the third period, where the Mintos poured on the offence.
Will Whitter and Logan Pickford scored just a minute apart early in the period to make it a 3-1 game, Taylor scored on the power play at 7:45, Konnor Watson added an empty netter with 2:25 to go and Abinet Klassen scored a shorthanded goal with 30 seconds remaining to finish things off.
Ryan Hicks faced 23 shots in the loss, Brady Holtvogt stopped 20 for Prince Albert.
The Winmar Warriors are back in action Thursday, Dec. 8 when they travel to Swift Current to face the Legionnaires. Next home action is Saturday, Dec. 10 against the Regina Pat Canadians.
