As it turns out, having three weeks off between your final regular-season game and first playoff game can have an effect on how things go in your postseason opener.
Thing is, despite finding themselves in that situation against the Regina Pat Canadians on the night of Mar. 11 in Regina, the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors were not that far behind their opponents, dropping a 3-0 decision in Game 1 of their best-of-five quarter-final Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League series.
“It definitely showed, we looked like we had a few weeks off,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber. “We were pretty happy with the start of the game and we were fine for the most part, but I just think there's there's more there and it just looked like we had some time off and the guys were a little sluggish. I think we'll be much better Monday after playing again and we’ll be able to even this series up.”
The Pat Canadians scored once in each period, as Noah Asmundson scored on the power play in the first before WHL Warriors prospect Ben Riche added single markers in the second and third.
Kelton Pyne was a major reason for Regina’s success, as he turned aside all 28 shots he faced. Making the Pat Cs goaltender a little more uncomfortable will be a goal for Game 2 on Monday night at Mosaic Place.
“We just have to make sure we do a good job of taking away time and space and we have to do a better job to get traffic in front of their goaltender,” Weisgerber said. “He played well last night, but we hit some crossbars and some posts, so we had our opportunities. We just need to make it tougher on them all over the ice.”
Ethan Fechter stopped 32 shots in goal for the Warriors.
The good thing is it’s a best-of-five series, and seeing as Moose Jaw took three of four from Regina in the regular season, there’s every reason to think there’s still lots of hockey to be played.
“Obviously it's only one game, so we’re going to make sure we’re ready to go here at home and even up the series,” Weisgerber said.
Puck drop for Game 2 is 8 p.m.at Mosaic Place. Game 3 goes Thursday. Mar. 17 in Regina, followed by Game 4 back in Moose Jaw on Sunday, Mar. 20 at 7 p.m. and the deciding Game 5 on Wednesday, Mar. 23 in Regina, with the final two contests played if necessary.
