Brayden Point is The All-Time Favourite Moose Jaw Warrior
By Twitter (@MJWarriorsFun) Instagram (@moosejawwarriors_history)
Well, it’s official.
Brayden Point has officially surpassed Theo Fleury as the GOAT. The All-Time Favourite Moose Jaw Warrior, as voted on by the fans.
Brayden Point was voted as the All-Time Fan Favourite Moose Jaw Warrior - photo credit Twitter
Rest assured Point haters and Theo Fleury fanboys, it means very little. It was just a bit of fun. The model I used to determine this is far from perfect and the sample size I used is miniscule. For a truly accurate representation I’d need to use more than simply the followers of my Twitter account (@MJWarriorsFun) and my Instagram account (@moosejawwarriors_history). Between the two platforms I’ve only got just over 800 followers. That leaves out quite a substantial chunk of long time Warriors’ fans that may have appreciated a say on this most important matter.
It is what it is.
I put together a tournament that included 128 of the most popular Moose Jaw Warriors of all time, had them compete against each other and Brayden Point won the whole thing, eliminating Theo Fleury in the finals. Pretty exciting stuff for the young Bolt.
The tournament started out with 32 groups of 4. The Winner of each group moved on into a single elimination bracket. Here are the 32 group winners.
That’s a pretty talented core right there. A “Who’s Who” of Warrior legends.
Some of the more interesting notes from the group stage worth discussing:
-Kent Staniforth nearly beat Brayden Point in Round One. In fact, nobody came as close to beating Brayden Point as Kent Staniforth did. Keep in mind, there was no metric established by which people were expected to vote. I simply asked who the fans liked better and left it at that.
My followers, it seems, have a lot of love and respect for Kent Staniforth along with other guys who can throw punches. Many of the people voting for Staniforth were actually former Warriors themselves.
-People really appreciate Brayden Yager. We all know the kid has immense talent and great potential. He surpassed Theo Fleury’s Rookie scoring record and currently he’s the top point producer on the Warriors team. The fact that he only has one season under his belt didn’t factor into the fans voting. In Round 1 He came out on top of a group with Jamie Lundmark and Joel Edmundson in it.
-Goalies didn’t do very well; and that could be my fault. Joey Perricone was edged out by Reed Low, Zach Sawchenko lost a tight one to Lyle Odelein and both Jason Fitzsimmons and Jody Lehmann proved extremely popular in falling to Ryan Smyth and Kelly Buchberger, respectively. Maybe I should have done a group strictly of goaltenders or maybe had some of them in groups where they weren’t solely up against guys who were battle-tested NHL superstars.
There were a few results in the single elimination Round of 32 that surprised me. The matchup between Jagger Firkus and Rob Trumbley was a rollercoaster. Trumbley, like Staniforth, is extremely popular amongst my followers and former players. The team’s all-time PIM leader was absolutely pummelling Firkus for the first half of the poll but then mama bear got involved and rallied the troops. I remind you again, the model I used to do this is far from perfect. I’m just happy Jagger’s mom reads my posts.
(Always nice to get the families involved)
-There were three matches I considered to be upsets, although my readers may disagree.
I figured Jerome “Boom Boom” Bechard would beat Kyle Brodziak. I truly underestimated Brodziak’s popularity.
-I also didn’t think Derek Kletzel would cruise passed Travis Hamonic the way he did.
And. Again, the Yager Bombs kept pouring. Brayden Yager, a rookie who had only played one season with the club eliminated Curtis Brown, a four year vet with Moose Jaw who had a distinguished NHL career that lasted longer than decade.
Picking who I preferred got increasingly tougher in the Round of 16.
Every match had two legends/definite future legends going at it.
Again, the Firkus Circus came to town and Jagger pulled out an upset win over Morgan Rielly.
Tanner Jeannot and Jayden Halbgewachs put an end to Kyle Brodziak’s and Derek Kletzel’s momentum and Brayden Yager produced yet another shocking win over an established veteran, this time it was Troy Brouwer, a guy who led the Warriors to their first WHL Championship series and won a Stanley Cup ring. The fans get what the fans ask for.
Youngsters Jagger Firkus and Brayden Yager both made it to the Elite 8 - photo credit Twitter
The Elite 8 solidified, for me, what I believed would be the Final 4, from the very start. Theo Fleury, Brayden Point, Ryan Smyth and Mike Keane.
The Match between Keane and Jayden Halbgewachs was pretty close and Firkus gave Theo a decent go but couldn’t round up enough support for an upset of that caliber. In the other two matches Point and “Captain Canada” Ryan Smyth beat Jeannot and Yager, comfortably.
The Final Four: Ryan Smyth, Mike Keane, Brayden Point & Theoren Fleury - photo collage via Twitter
Brayden Point eliminated Ryan Smyth with an impressive 72% of the vote. The former linemates, Theo and Keaner, had a less decisive match-up, but it was Fleury who came out the victor, securing 58% of the vote.
Then came the finals and it was all Brayden Point.
He won with over 60% of the vote, putting the scrappy Fleury down, once and for all.
That’s one outcome I didn’t see coming.
The people of Moose Jaw really love Brayden Point.
It doesn’t matter that, when he was playing in Moose Jaw, the team suffered a three year playoff drought and lost far more games than they won, because that same lack of team success is true of Fleury’s tenure.
Fleury was in Moose Jaw for the inaugural season in 1984 and the team wasn’t very good.
He, like Point, had only one winning season with the Warriors and he never played on any great Warriors’ teams. He played on some fun teams, and memorable teams, but not any that were serious Championship contenders.
It was brought to my attention, more than once, that maybe Theo’s politics and social media persona may have tarnished his standing among his fans, to some extent.
That may be true.
About that, I can only say this.
Years ago, Theo came to Moose Jaw to promote his second book, Conversations With a Rattlesnake.
He put on a presentation in one of the board rooms at Mosaic Place.
I covered the event for Moose Jaw Today. I remember that, after giving a prepared speech, he took questions from the audience.
He told a spectator that the one thing he wants to be remembered for most, by the hockey world, is for being a good teammate.
That, he claimed, was more important than anything else.
I would argue that that has never changed for Theo.
He’s still striving for the same end game.
What has changed is that, in his public and political life, he’s just playing for a different team than the people who resent him for what he says publicly.
They are now his opponents.
Because Theo is definitely controversial and he clearly has plenty of detractors.
His teammates now are the people who agree with him, the people he says he’s fighting with and for.
Those people like him as much now as they ever have; even more so, because he’s on their team and, just like he used to put his body on the line to help his team win, just as he used to get under the skin and into the faces of his opponents on the ice, he is now doing the exact same thing for his most current “team”.
It’s not new for Fleury to aggravate his opponents.
Fleury has become increasingly more outspoken about national politics and social issues
Either way though, that could be true; he could be less popular with fans now and Brayden Point surpassing him as the All-Time Warrior Fan Favourite might be evidence of that.
But, as I said earlier. Small sample size. And I’m just assuming Theo was the most popular amongst fans to begin with. For all I know, Ryan Smyth would have beat him. Or Kent Staniforth.
Regardless, Brayden Point, the newly minted All-Time Fan Favourite Moose Jaw Warrior will be suiting up with the Tampa Bay Lightning for his 7th NHL season, no doubt in search of his third Stanley Cup ring.
The champ
He is the Warriors 3rd All-Time highest goal scorer, 3rd in assists and 3rd in points and, with the exception of Mike Keane, he’s won more Stanley Cups than any other Warrior.
Here is a look at Brayden Point’s path to the championship. These are the guys he beat:
Brayden Tracey
Justin Almeida
Kent Staniforth
Rob Reimer
Kelly Buchberger
Tanner Jeannot
Ryan Smyth
Theo Fleury
I think he needs a statue. Or a mural done by Carly Jaye.
Thanks again to everyone who took the time to vote.