With the way the Moose Jaw Warriors season started for goaltender Jackson Unger, it didn’t take long for detractors to come out of the woodwork.
After a 4-0 loss in Prince Albert to open the season and a 9-4 loss to Brandon in the Warriors home opener that saw Unger pulled after allowing five goals in a little over a period, fans were wondering if general manager Jason Ripplinger would be quick to pull the trigger on a trade for an older netminder.
But throughout the pre-season, both Ripplinger and head coach Mark O’Leary didn’t deviate from their belief in the 18-year-old third-year veteran -- he was the team’s starter this season, and had earned that right through his solid play when called upon the previous two campaigns.
Fast forward two weeks from that first weekend, and oh, how opinions have changed.
Despite facing 34 shots or more in every game since, Unger has been a rock in goal for the Warriors, having allowed three goals or fewer in five of his last six games.
It’s no coincidence that the Warriors have found all sorts of success in that span, too, with wins five wins in that same span.
It’s all led to Unger currently boasting the ninth-best save percentage in the WHL at .907 to go along with the most minutes played in the league at 443 and a 3.52 goals against average -- which drops to 2.81 and a spot in the WHL top 10 if you take away the first two games of the campaign.
Not too shabby, and ideally just a sign of things to come.
“I think things have been going great,” Unger said after practice on Wednesday afternoon. “Last year that string of games I played really helped me into this year and so far I’ve played every game and I’ve stayed consistent and given our team a chance to win. We’ve been doing that so it’s been good.”
Unger has done his best to take the pressure of being a bona fide WHL starter in stride, with the knowledge that the job was his from the outset taking a bit of time to get used to.
“I think it started in preseason and in practices, and I feel like I’ve done a really good job adjusting and I’m hoping it just gets better from now,” Unger said.
Of course, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have learned from two players who were among the absolute best in the WHL in their time with the Warriors. Overage netminder Carl Tetachuk played ahead of Unger in his 16-year-old season, and he backed up 20-year-old Connor Ungar during the 2022-23 campaign.
Both veterans gave something for Unger to aspire to in addition to helping develop positive habits both on and off the ice.
“They showed where I want to be in the end and I learned a lot from those two guys,” Unger said. “They were excellent throughout those two years and it helped build a foundation and show where I want to be.”
Getting to that point naturally takes a lot of hard work, especially in the off-season. To that end, Unger spent a good portion of his summer working on and refining his game, with the goal of becoming stronger all-around.
“Really, everything, but there were a few little things I really focussed on,” Unger said when asked what his off-season focus was. “My hands and tracking and obviously getting a lot stronger in the gym has helped and built up the conditioning for these kinds of games.”
That conditioning work has especially paid off given his early-season workload. The Warriors have found themselves in a handful of close games, and if not for Unger coming through despite the high shot totals, the team’s record would be far different than it is right now.
“We get a lot of shots against, but a lot of them are from the outside, too,” Unger said. “It’s something we can always improve on, but it’s happening every game so you get used to it and it’s important to stay consistent no matter what.”
Should that happen and Unger remains as steady as he has through the first part of the season, it’ll just add to the feeling that the Warriors have something special going on here.
“This is definitely our year and I think we’ve all got our team goals, but also our individual goals to help us reach that as well,” he said. “So it should be good and we’re looking forward to the games coming up here.”
The Warriors will look for a measure of revenge for their shutout loss in Lethbridge when they host the Hurricanes on Friday night, followed by the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday. Both games are 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
