Even teams as stacked as the Moose Jaw Warriors are right now will need a lesson once in awhile, and Saturday night against the Swift Current Broncos was that time.
The Warriors roared out to a 3-0 lead early in the second but couldn’t make it stick, eventually needing Brayden Yager to score with 31.7 seconds to play to secure a 4-3 victory at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The win gives the Warriors victories in nine of their last 10 and saw the team improve to 27-15-0-2 on the campaign. Thanks to Regina’s 5-4 overtime win over Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw has now climbed to within a single point of the Tigers for second place in the Eastern Conference while remaining a point ahead of Red Deer.
“That’s a good learning experience for us,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “We’re up in the game, we have control and we have a power play, and we take our foot off the gas. They outworked us on that power play and that gave them a bit of juice and momentum and they started feeling good about their game all of a sudden. Then instead of pushing for a fourth, we gave them that first one and they didn’t look back.
“But with this group, I’m really proud of how we were able to collect ourselves, stay with it and find a way in third.”
The Warriors opened scoring 6:09 into the game, and it was a pretty one. Atley Calvert carried the puck into the Broncos zone, cut through the slot and ripped a shot from the right faceoff circle top shelf blocker side on Swift Current netminder Joey Rocha.
Rocha was the story of the rest of the period, as he made save after save to keep things close, and if not for a handful of near impossible stops, the Warriors could have had a three or four goal lead.
The Warriors finally broke through for their second goal before the period was out, and it was the power play that got the job done. Calvert struck again, taking a pass to the side of the net, cutting in front and slipping the puck home five-hole.
Matthew Savoie then made it a 3-0 lead four minutes into the second, breaking down his wing and taking a shot from the left face-off circle that beat Rocha low.
Then the power play O’Leary mentioned happened, and the game swung dramatically.
The Broncos got one back with 9:45 gone when a defensive zone breakdown left Ryan McCleary all alone on the right face-off circle, and a shot blocker side made it a two-goal game.
Swift Current then used their power play to get back within one with 7:10 to play in the second when Rylan Gould outduelled a pair of Warriors defenders at the top of the crease.
Yet another defensive breakdown with two minutes to play and all of a sudden it was a tie game. A three-on-one after a turnover at the blueline led to Gould finding space all alone in front of the net and he’d have all day to put a puck past Unger.
“I think it’s different playing teams like Swift Current and it’ll be the same next week against Medicine Hat,” O’Leary said of back-to-back tough games against the Broncos. “They have skill, they have speed and they can make plays as well. There were stretches of time where I really liked our game, we played with structure and kept them to the outside, but this is junior hockey. There were some times where we didn’t manage the puck well and we gave up things we shouldn’t have and it went both ways.”
Both teams ran into penalty trouble as the third period wound down, but back-to-back high-sticking minors to Swift Current’s Jakub Dvorak and Caleb Wyrostok gave the Warriors the opening they’d need.
Moments after Jagger Firkus hit the post on the two-man advantage, Yager would take a pass to the face-off circle, take a few strides and rip a shot top shelf blocker side for the game-winning goal.
And with that, the Warriors had one of their hardest-fought wins of the season.
“We’re finding different ways to win, it’s important for that to happen,” O’Leary said. “Last night in Swift Current it was our five-on-five play, and just playing that boring style of hockey, the simple stuff done well over and over. Tonight it was special teams that got it done. We’re finding different players and different way to step up and that’s what we want to see.”
Unger finished his night with 27 saves as the Warriors continued to cut down on their shots against, while Rocha had 31 saves.
The Warriors have the week off before taking on the Medicine Hat Tigers in a home-and-home, with Moose Jaw hosting Medicine Hat on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
