Warriors Destroy Reigning Champs
By @MJWarriorsFun (Twitter) @moosejawwarriors_history (Instagram)
Edmonton Oil Kings won the Ed Chynoweth Cup last season - photo credit Twitter
The headline for this story is purposefully deceptive.
Your Moose Jaw Warriors destroyed the Edmonton Oil Kings on Tuesday night. That’s true. And the Edmonton Oil Kings won the WHL championship last season. That’s also true. They are the Reigning champions. It’s 100% accurate to say that. But it doesn’t really mean all that much considering they really aren’t the same team as they were last year. More than half of the players that comprised the championship roster had begun their careers outside of the WHL and the team was comprised of a couple veterans, a few grinders and a bunch of young, inexperienced guys. They had a record of only 2 wins and 12 losses coming into the game and had been outscored 69-26 by their opponents. They were in dead last place in the WHL.
Yeah, they are the “reigning champions”; but beating them certainly isn’t as good in reality as it sounds in a news headline.
The Moose Jaw Warriors need help. They were predicted by many analysts to be a championship contender and, so far, it looks as if the predictors were wrong. They’re a good team. But they aren’t exactly dominating the competition. Most recently they squeaked an ugly win out over Prince Albert, the worst team in the East Division. Then they collapsed and blew a 2 goal lead to Red Deer.
It’s been frustrating at times, but the team undoubtedly has the talent to be successful. It’s just a matter of whether or not they can put it all together and keep it all together.
Jackson Unger got the start in net - photo credit Twitter
A date with the lowly Edmonton Oil Kings, last years champions and this years whipping boy, is exactly the type of game that can make or break a team’s momentum. Would the Warriors come out flat and unfocused? or would the team begin turning around its offensive woes?
It was most certainly a promising start for the Warriors though, as they rocked the Hangar with 3 first period goals.
The first one was from Maximus Wanner at 7:51, finishing off a Jagger Firkus backhand pass.
Wanner got the second one too. He was dished a puck in proximity to the Oil Kings slot. He moved forward and fired. The puck took an odd bounce off the goalie but still found it’s way into the net.
Max Wanner has 2 goals and 2 assists - photo credit Twitter
Then, shortly after that one the Warriors were involved in a log jam in front of Edmonton’s goalie Kolby Hay. After a couple whacks from Warriors players, Brayden Yager was able to put the puck in the goal.
That ended a decisive and dominant first frame for the hometown Warriors.
Jaxsen Wiebe, a Moose Javian, scored one for the Oil Kings early in the second period. It always stings to get scored on but they hurt a little less knowing it’s one of those good Moose Jaw kids who scored it.
Moose Jaw kid Jaxsen Wiebe scored twice against his hometown team - via Twitter)
The beating resumed after that though. For a moment Denton Mateychuk thought he was a forward and it worked out magically. Wanner stringed a pass to him that led him straight to the goalie; Mateychuk bullied it into the net.
After Atley Calvert scored a soft wrister from the point to put the Warriors up by 4, Edmonton pulled their goalie, bringing in backup Ronin Geraghty to stop the bleeding. Max Wanner had an assist on that play too, for his fourth point of the night.
Jagger Firkus added another goal, late in the period putting the Warriors up by five heading into the change room.
Jagger Firkus scored his 8th goal - photo credit Twitter
Jaxsen Wiebe scored another one for Edmonton halfway through the third period. I’d sure like to see Moose Jaw try and scoop that kid up at the trade deadline. It was far too little and far too late for the Oil Kings however; and any notion of a comeback was squashed when Nathan Pilling scored his 4th of the season on a late Power Play to cap the score off at 7-2.
Predictably, Max Wanner was the games first star. Atley Calvert and Brayden Yager came in after that.
The Warriors will be in Medicine Hat on Friday Night for a date with the Tigers.