The Warriors kicked off a four-game pre-Christmas run against some of the top teams in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League with a 7-5 win over the Notre Dame Hounds on Thursday at Mosaic Place.
The win was the 10th straight for the local squad and saw them improve to 20-6-1-0 while moving three-points clear of the second-place Regina Pat Canadians on top of the 12-team league.
Things were close in the early going as Maximus Wanner gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead only 32 seconds into the contest, but saw the Hounds’ Tristan Sgrosso tie things up just under three minutes later.
Then came the second period, and the rout was on.
Connor McGrath gave the Warriors the lead with another quick goal 49 seconds into the frame, and a little over three minutes later, they’d put the game out of reach: Kyle Forster, Kirk Mullen and Evan Callaghan all scored in a span of 1:34 beginning with Forster’s marker at 15:38.
Ethan Look would get one back for Notre Dame before the period was out, but Lucius Schmidt would again make it a four-goal lead with 7:30 to play in the frame.
Mullen scored his second goal on the power play 22 seconds into the third to make it 7-2 before Notre Dame staged a bit of a rally: Look scored his second of the game with 4:33 gone in the period and finished off the hat trick with 44 seconds left. The Hounds’ Nikita Nikora added another with 12 seconds remaining to close out scoring.
McGrath and Wanner also had assists in the game, while Ethan Peters, Ben Peterson and Wyatt Wilson had two assists each.
Dylan Ernst had 38 saves for Moose Jaw while Marcus Bjoran made six saves in 25:05 and Jared Picklyk 14 stops through the remainder of the game for Notre Dame.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Warriors as they face the third-place Saskatoon Contacts on Saturday (1:30 p.m., Mosaic Place) and the Pat Canadians on Sunday (1:30 p.m. Mosaic Place) before closing out the pre-Christmas schedule on Thursday when they travel to Saskatoon for a rematch with the Contacts.
Overtime… the Mac’s Midget AAA tournament announced their schedule for the upcoming event on Tuesday… the Warriors will open their tournament appearance against the Calgary Royals (Alberta AAA Midget) on Thursday, Dec. 26 before taking on the Cariboo Cougars (B.C. Major Midget AAA) on Friday, Dec. 27, the Airdrie CFR Bisons (Alberta AAA Midget) on Sunday, Dec. 29 and St. Albert Nektar Raiders (Alberta AAA Midget) on Monday, Dec. 30 to close out the round robin.
