Warriors Carved Up In Turkey Day Matinee
By @MJWarriorsFun (Twitter) @moosejawwarriors_history (Instagram)
Your Moose Jaw Warriors were in Saskatoon for the Turkey Day Matinee on Sunday, October 9th to face the Saskatoon Blades.
Moose Jaw, who had beaten the Blades on home ice just the week before, were looking for a repeat of that performance. But the previous win didn’t come easy. They were outplayed by Saskatoon and nearly doubled in Shots On Goal. It took a miraculous outing from Goalie Connor Ungar to hold back the Blades.
This time around, Ungar was given the day off and Jackson Unger was his replacement as the game’s starter.
“Action” Calvert did what he does best and he got the scoring started again. This time it was by setting up the big Robert Baco, on a back door play, for his first goal of the season. Calvert has been a real spark plug in the early going of the campaign. Scoring three game opening goals and setting up another.
Action Calvert sparked the scoring again, setting up Robert Baco’s opening goal - photo credit Twitter
Saskatoon’s Conner Roulette got one back a few minutes later, receiving a cross-ice pass from Vaughn Watterodt and slinging it past Jackson Unger with some added ferocity.
Roulette did it again in his next shift on the ice. This time banging home a loose puck. Roulette was hot and the Blades were up 2-1 at the end of the first.
Moose Jaw was going to need to address some changes in the locker room. They were being badly out-played, trailing 12-5 in Shots on Goal.
As with the last time these two teams met, Saskatoon was the aggressor, far out-hustling the Warriors and cleanly out-shooting them. The early report on this Saskatoon Blades team is that they’re going to be pretty difficult to beat.
Saskatoon came out in period two and did exactly what they were doing in period one. Conner Roulette completed the natural Hat Trick at 5:12, dropping to one knee to get a little extra oomph on a perfectly placed one-timer.
“The Casino Kid” Connor Roulette completed the natural Hat Trick - photo credit Twitter
Shortly after that Josh Pillar fired home a loose puck to put the Blades up 4-1. The Blades looked unstoppable, dominating every inch of the ice and heading to the third period up 32-11 in shots. It seemed that even when short-handed that Saskatoon continued to be the better, more dominant team.
The story continued throughout period three. The Saskatoon Blades slicing up the Warriors like a Thanksgiving turkey and the Warriors offering little in the way of resistance. Had it not been for an impressive third period performance from Jackson Unger the score would have been a lot worse. Saskatoon finished the game with 50 shots, compared to only 17 from Moose Jaw.
Jackson Unger was sharp despite losing. He made 46 saves. - photo credit Twitter
The final score was 4-1 for Saskatoon.
The Warriors are going to have to be a lot better if they want to compete with teams like that. Both teams were 4-2 before the game, the win gives Saskatoon their fifth and moves them into third place in the Eastern Conference. Moose Jaw drops to 4th.
The Warriors will be back at the Hangar on Friday October 14th, for a game against the Red Deer Rebels.
Warriors Notes:
Brayden Yager, who is from Saskatoon, had the opportunity to take part in the pre-game ceremony. His grandfather, Trevor Yager dropped the puck.
Max Wanner was out. Serving the final game of his 3 game suspension for “slew-footing.”
Also out are D Matthew Gallant, F Nathan Pilling and F Riley Niven.
Jackson Unger given the starting spot despite Connor Ungar being extremely effective, only allowing two goals, in the previous two games.