Big Win for Warriors

By Twitter - @MJWarriorsFun

Instagram - @moosejawwarriors_history

Sunny Days

The Warriors are feeling the pinch.

They’re hard at work trying to get back on the right track after a certain story derailed and deflated them.

Prior to Tuesday, they’d been unable to win in their previous three games, that’s the most they’d lost, consecutively, all season. Things weren’t looking promising.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are no slouches either, so a win definitely wouldn’t come easy.

Lethbridge had won 30 games coming into this one, including one over a fully stocked Warriors.

Lethbridge has a flaming hot goalie, named Bryan Thomson in net too.

Thomson had allowed just one goal over his last two performances and held Moose Jaw to only one in their last meeting.

He had a .943 Save % and let’s in far less than 2 goals-per-game, on average.

He was just named the WHL’s goalie of the week.

Bryan Thomson had been very hard to score on - until now - photo credit Twitter

A gambling man might think that, considering the circumstances, Lethbridge was an easy bet to win this one. Only time would tell.

…and guess what?

Those gamblers were wrong.

The Warriors weren’t messing around.

Scoring early and often.

They scored their first just 17 seconds into the game, setting the tone early.

It would be worth finding out where that goal ranks amongst the fastest goals in franchise history.

That sounds like a job for the Moose Jaw Warriors History guy on Instagram.

All that hype about the Hurricanes’ goalie and we got to him on the first shot of the game.

Eric Alarie scored the goal, but it was a brilliant back-door pass from Matthew Gallant that made it all possible.

Matthew Gallant had a beautiful assist - photo credit Twitter

Moose Jaw followed that up with a Power Play goal halfway through the frame. This time it was Atley Calvert scoring his 32nd of the year.

One thing both goals had in common was they Ryder Korczak assisted on both. He’s scored 55 points as of this writing.

Ryder Korczak had 4 points - photo credit Twitter

The Warriors were all over them early on. Much to the fans’ appreciation.

The Hurricanes were no doubt relieved they made it through the period without any further damage.

Moose Jaw didn’t stop there though. The deluge only got heavier.

They pumped in three more early in Period Two.

Bryan Thomson got yanked too. So much for the unbeatable goalie.

First it was Korczak, scoring on a Power Play.

Then right after that it was Martin Rysavy with a nifty wrap-around for his 7th of the season.

“Wrap-Around Rysavy”. It’s got a nice ring.

The third goal came courtesy of Brayden Yager, who has now scored goals in five consecutive games.

Yager has scored in five straight games - art by Wendy Fang

Jagger Firkus then scored one for himself too; his 29th of the campaign.

Calvert is the team-leader in goals with 32 but both Yager and Firkus are right behind him with 29 each.

5-1 for the good guys! Sunny Days! The Warriors were electric!

Tyson Zimmer got one back for the Hurricanes and then Cosmo Wilson made it 6-1 almost immediately after.

After two periods it had been a complete domination.

A Nation of Domination.

Photo credit Twitter

Ben Riche kept the downpour coming into the third, batting a puck into the net for his 7th.

Then things slowed down, at least on the Warriors end.

Blake Swetlikoff scored twice for Lethbridge, in quick succession.

Then Tyson Laventure joined in the excitement with one of his own.

But that was the extent of the Hurricanes comeback, they’d never get any closer.

Atley Calvert added a last one, late in the game, on a fast break, to seal the deal.

That goal was Calvert’s 33rd.

He has now tied David Bararuk’s long-standing record for Most Warrior Goals by a Moose Jaw-born Player.

Atley Calvert is one goal away from history, Moose Jaw Warriors history - photo credit Moose Jaw Warriors twITTER

The Warriors win, 8-4

It was an impressive victory for a team that needed one.

Better yet, it was against a team the Warriors could find themselves facing in the first round of the playoffs.

Firkus and Korczak had four points each, while Calvert and Rysavy had three. Yager and Alarie also had multi-point nights..

Moose Jaw hosts Swift Current on Friday night.