Warriors Look Great in Trans Canada Clash
By @MJWarriorsFun (Twitter) @moosejawwarriors_history (Instagram)
Connor Bedard and the flaming hot Regina Pats made the journey to Moose Jaw for “TransCanada Clash”, at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, on Thursday October 20th; where they battled your loveable Moose Jaw Warriors.
Regina had won three of their last four games, where they’d seen lots of great action from their young star, Connor Bedard, and his linemate Tanner Howe. Bedard leads the WHL with 20 points and Howe is just behind him with 15.
Compare that to Moose Jaw’s top point producers, Brayden Yager and Atley Calvert, who only had 11 and 9 points, respectively. The Pats had also benefitted from some tremendous stops by goaltender Drew Sim, who was unbeaten in his five starts.
Highly touted prospect Connor Bedard was in Moose Jaw for the night - photo credit Twitter
Moose Jaw, on the other hand, had been predicted to be one of the league’s strongest teams but had struggled early to find consistency. In their previous outing they wrangled a tight victory over Lethbridge, but weren’t necessarily impressive in doing so.
A win for either team would go a long way as both teams play in the ultra-competitive East Division.
The Warriors were quick to the action, playing far more aggressively than Regina. They jumped out to an early lead when defenseman Cole Jordan snapped a wrist shot off from the line that got past Drew Sim.
And then, only three minutes later they added a second, on a Power Play, when the Yager Bomb exploded. Brayden Yager was the recipient of a beautiful passing combination between Denton Mateychuk and Jagger Firkus; he stuck a the wrister in the top of the net.
Denton Mateychuk had three points - photo credit Twitter
Stanislav Svozil got one back for the Pats less than a minute later. Svozil goes to the school of “just get the puck at the net” cause that’s exactly what he did, with a fortunate bounce it got behind Warriors goalie Jackson Unger.
Three minutes later LW Robert Baco took advantage of a failed clearing attempt from the Pats. Baco, with a defender hanging off him, managed to hook a puck, across the ice, to a waiting Denton Mateychuk, who finished it off.
The Warriors added one more in the period when Tate Schofer muscled home a loose puck, for his second of the season, at 17:30. That goal wrapped up a dominant first frame from the hometown Warriors, in which they out-shot the Pats 20-6.
The Second Period began as frantically as the First. Cole Jordan scored his second of the game, in the fifth minute, finishing off a great pass from Mateychuk.
Cole Jordan scored twice - photo credit MJWarriors Twitter
Connor Bedard scored one a couple minutes later, shovelling in a loose puck, for his league leading 10th of the season. The game slowed down considerably after that. Moose Jaw had a few more scoring opportunities but Sim made some great saves.
Moose Jaw got into some penalty troubles late in the third but the Penalty Kill was able to keep Regina off the board.
The final score was 5-2 for Moose Jaw. The Warriors were most successful when they pushed the offence with their defence and this game was a great example of that. Cole Jordan scored twice and Denton Mateychuk had three points. All five of their goals had a defenceman involved in creating it. That’s Warriors hockey right there.
Jordan, Mateychuk and Baco were the game’s three stars, in that order.
They’ll be in Regina, for another game against the Pats, on Sunday the 23rd.
Warriors Notes:
Scratches for the game were Riley Niven, Matthew Gallant, Harper Lolacher, Thomas Tien.
Perhaps a promotion for Eric Alarie and Ben Riche, who played remarkably well with each other in their last outing; this game saw them on a line with team leader Brayden Yager.
Marek Howell and Lynden Lakovic have both been named to Team Canada for the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge next month!