Warriors: It Gets Worse Before it Gets Worse
By Twitter - @MJWarriorsFun
Instagram - @moosejawwarriors_history
The Moose Jaw Warriors are struggling.
It’s been over a week since their starting goalie and second most productive defenceman got suspended, indefinitely, along with two other young prospects; and the team has looked really bad since.
They’ve suffered horrendous back-to-back losses in which they were outscored 15-5.
Put this into perspective. In their last two games they gave up 8 and 7 goals, respectively.
Prior to that they’d only given up more than 6 goals once all season.
Post-suspension Warriors aren’t the same team that fans have been watching all season.
On Saturday night they made the trip to Prince Albert for a date with the Raiders and a chance to make right with the hockey Gods.
Prince Albert is the weakest team in the East division.
But the Raiders had won twice in a row leading up to this and one of those was against the Regina Pats, who had just eviscerated the Warriors a week earlier.
Prince Albert is no push-over.
There was blood in the water and the Raiders were looking to feast.
Moose Jaw got into some trouble early on, both Tate Schofer and Logan Dowhaniuk found themselves in the penalty box at the same time and the Warriors were forced to kill a two-man advantage for a minute-and-a-half.
The Warriors were stoic in defeating the Power Play but it wasn’t long after it that the Raiders got on the board.
Niall Crocker scored his tenth of the season.
Ryder Korczak was unable to clear a puck in the Warriors end, Crocker dropped to one knee for leverage and cranked it past Jackson Unger for the lead.
The Raiders celebrating a goal - photo credit Prince Albert Raiders
Before the end of the frame, Brayden Yager levelled the score.
This was the fourth consecutive game in which Yager has scored, for all their woes, despite the trauma he has certainly maintained a high level of play.
Brayden Yager scored again - photo credit Moose Jaw Warriors Twitter
Another bad clearing attempt turned into a another goal for the Raiders.
This time it was Eric Alarie, slipping the puck into dangerous territory and Aiden Oiring snapping it past Unger.
Prince Albert then scored an insurance goal while on a Power Play.
Evan Herman won a face-off in the Warriors end, the puck landed on Riley Kosior’s stick.
Kosior passed it to a waiting Eric Johnson who wired a slap shot home.
Aiden Oiring celebrating a goal - photo credit Prince Albert Raiders Twitter
Moose Jaw definitely started the third period as the aggressor.
Looking for anything to boost the club’s morale, the players got to work with heavy pressure on the Raiders forces.
Carter Anderson gave the Warriors a nice boost when he got booked for Roughing, in the third minute, and gave the tribe a Power Play.
But, to add just one more piece of misfortune to the team, the Warriors’ scoring seems to have fallen off, just as their defence has and they were incapable of capitalizing on their best chances.
In the eleventh minute Josh Hoekstra got one back for the tribe but that was as good as it would get.
After Hoekstra’s goal, they were unable to level the score.
Landon Kosior added another for the Raiders at 17:01, then Niall Crocker finalized it with an empty-netter.
Final Score Moose Jaw 2 and Prince Albert 5.
Blood in the Water
It’s hard to say what’s next for the Warriors. Either way, it has to get worse before it gets worse.
They’ll be back in Moose Jaw on Tuesday, for a game against Lethbridge.
