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Regina turns early lead into pre-season win over Warriors

Bedard has goal, assist as Pats take 4-1 victory out of Mosaic Place, teams rematch in Regina on Saturday
Odds are the Moose Jaw Warriors weren’t going to go through the entire Western Hockey League season with an undefeated record.

And it’s better to take a tough loss now in the pre-season than later in the campaign when the games carry greater and greater meaning.

The Warriors got off to a slow start against the Regina Pats on Friday night at Mosaic Place, falling behind 3-0 in the first 23 minutes before going on to drop a 4-1 decision.

“I don’t think we liked the way we started the game,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “We weren’t surprised by the work ethic we saw from Regina because that’s how they play, they come at you in a hurry and make you work for everything and we weren’t ready to match their compete level. I think that’s where we got behind in the game with how we started and we were in an uphill battle from there.”

Warriors fans didn’t have to wait long to get a taste of what Connor Bedard can do for the Regina Pats, as the 16-year-old phenom set up Zack Stringer with the first goal of the game on the power play only 6:19 into the first period. Cole Carrier made it 2-0 only 41 seconds later and the Pats took that edge into the second frame.

There, Bedard extended the lead to three 3:14 in, capping off a run of sustained pressure when Stringer hit him with a perfect feed while going to the net.

The early deficit wasn’t helped by the Warriors’ inability to stay out of the penalty box, as they found themselves shorthanded four times in by the time Bedard picked up his marker, something O’Leary felt was a product of the overall bad start. 

“I think when you’re not moving your feet, your stick does a lot of things it shouldn’t do,” he said. “It comes back to our willingness to work and compete, those are choices and I don’t think we made the right choices early on.”

Regina finished the game 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Warriors had one goal on six opportunities of their own.

Thing is, the Warriors were able to turn the flow of the game after the early deficit. They’d outshoot Regina the last two periods -- and 37-28 overall -- but some bad puck luck kept them from mounting a comeback.

Logan Doust got one back for the Warriors with four minutes remaining in the second period, beating Pats goaltender Matthew Kieper five-hole with a shot from the slot on the power play, but Moose Jaw would get no closer.

“We definitely got better as the game went on, we had our looks and I don’t know how many posts and crossbars we hit, it looked like four or so, and their goalie made some saves,” O’Leary said. “’ll be no different in the regular season, we’ll run into that, but with the way we started the game we didn’t earn that one tonight and we’ll learn from it.”

Jakob Brook -- the younger brother of former Warriors captain Josh Brook -- closed out scoring 3:53 into the third, going coast-to-coast from his own end before ripping a shot high blocker side on Warriors starter Jackson Unger.

Warriors Pats preseason Clarke official
Linesperson Alex Clarke drops the puck at centre ice after the game’s opening goal. | Randy Palmer

The game had a special meaning for one individual in the game. Weyburn’s Alex Clarke made her debut as an on-ice official in the Western Hockey League, with the officiating crew grabbing the puck as a memento for the 28-year-old linesperson after the first stoppage in play.

The Warriors and Pats are back in action on Saturday night in Regina, Moose Jaw’s first contest at the Brandt Centre since playing the entire 2020-21 campaign in the East Division Hub.

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