Firkus Ties Record, Warriors Win Comeback OT Thriller

By @MJWarriorsFun (Twitter) @moosejawwarriors_history (Instagram)

Your Moose Jaw Warriors were at the Langley Events Centre, in Langley, British Columbia, on Wednesday Night, to battle the Vancouver Giants.

Wait?

That’s right. The Vancouver Giants don’t even play in Vancouver? Yep. That’s correct.

It sure is a gorgeous arena though.

Coming into the match, the Warriors were red hot, winning three straight games, including an 8-3 drubbing of Victoria the night before.

As for the Giants, they were coming off of an impressive victory themselves, on Sunday they’d beaten the Portland Winterhawks, the top team in the U.S Division.

Moose Jaw looked strong early but couldn’t get the puck past Giant goaltender Brett Mirwald. You might recognize the name Brett Mirwald because he used to play for Moose Jaw. Between 2020-2021 he played 19 games for the Warriors. Now he’s returned to haunt us. That 6th round conditional draft pick in 2026 better be worth it.

Former Warrior Brett Mirwald, now a Giant, was solid - photo credit Twitter

Vancouver’s Zack Ostapchuk scored the only goal of the first period. Ostapchuk was also awarded a penalty shot shortly after but failed to convert it into a goal.

Early in the second period Kyren Gronick added an insurance goal for the Giants. Things weren’t looking great for the tribe, despite controlling the tempo and getting far more shots they were still trailing.

They did, however, get one back halfway through the second when Nathan Pilling finished off a beautiful passing sequence from Tate Schofer and Lynden Lakovic.

Ty Thorpe scored his 12th of the season, very early into period 3, to give the Giants back their multi-goal lead.

Robert “Bobzilla” Baco netted his fifth of the season, in the fourth minute, to bring the lead back to just one but almost immediately after Vancouver got it back with a goal from Mazden Leslie.

In the 11th minute, Atley Calvert took advantage of a Power Play and scored his 13th of the season. Jagger Firkus was credited with an assist on the goal. That point marked his 19th consecutive game with a point, tying a franchise record set in 1996-97

Jagger Firkus tied a franchise record after scoring a point in his 19th straight game - photo credit DobberProspects

The Warriors had made it a game. They had crawled their way back into battle and were hungry to win.

With the net empty and less than a minute on the clock, one might think a loss was a foregone conclusion, but not for these revitalized Moose Jaw Warriors. The gamble paid off. In the dying moments, the Firkus Circus struck again. A fortunate bounce and the puck ended up on Firkus’ stick, he roofed it, tying the game, then did a victory lap in front of Vancouver’s bench, to gloat.

The momentum was clearly in the Warriors’ favour heading into overtime and it didn’t take long for them to finish things off. Ryder Korczak scored the winner at 2:41. The comeback was complete.

Ryder Korczak scored the OT winner - photo credit Smaht Scouting

Warriors 5, Giants 4.

The Warriors have shown a different side of their team on this western road trip. They gutted out a tough win over Kelowna on Saturday, scored a season high against Victoria on Tuesday, and now completed a third period, multi-goal come from behind OT victory over Vancouver.

Let’s see if they can bring that momentum with them to Red Deer on Saturday, when they meet the 18-4, Central division leading Rebels, who have already beaten them twice this season.