Warriors Withstand Tremendous Ice Storm
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Oh man! The Moose Jaw Warriors really wanted “it” on Saturday night. At least for the first two periods, at least.
They cruised into Game 2 of their first round series with the Winnipeg Ice and laid a first period beating on their opponents that they won’t soon forget.
Good to see!
I’m sure some people thought the Warriors odds looked pretty bleak after last night’s tough loss. But after a tough win they’ve won back some of that confidence.
It was a rough and tumble game in which spectators saw a ton of penalties, from both teams.
The centrifugal difference was that the Warriors made better use of their Power Play opportunities and, as tribe fans have become accustomed to seeing, goaltender Connor Ungar did a fantastic job keeping pucks out of his net.
Connor Ungar was incredible - photo credit Winnipeg Ice Twitter)
Ryder Korczak scored the game’s first goal very early in the game.
At 1:02 the Warriors broke out on a 2-on-1; Atley Calvert took a shot on Ice goalie Daniel Hauser and Korczak followed up on it, poking home the rebound.
That’s when the Power Play kicked in.
Matthew Gallant was on the receiving end of a questionable hit to the head by Ice left-winger Evan Friesen. Gallant was taken to the locker room for some medical attention and Friesen was served with a Game Misconduct.
Brayden Yager scored rather quickly into the Man-Advantage.
Almost immediately after that Zach Benson got booked for High-Sticking.
It was Yager who stuck it to them again. This time with a snipe of a wrist shot, for his second of the game and fifth of the postseason.
Just 20 seconds after that Martin Rysavy added one more, putting a finishing touch on that Game Misconduct call.
It was 4-0 Warriors and the game hadn’t hit the ten minute mark.
Winnipeg opted to pull their goalie at the end of the frame and replace him with back-up Mason Beaupit.
Daniel Hauser’s picture here turned out much better than his night in net did - photo credit Winnipeg Ice Twitter
The second period may have been tight and neither team was able to score but Winnipeg turned up the volume for Period Three and gave the tribe a good scare.
They scored three unanswered goals and found themselves trailing by just a goal with almost four minutes of hockey to play. Ice goals were scored by Zach Ostapchuk, Connor McClennon and Carson Latimer.
Winnipeg was putting a work in. Pulling out all the stops. They weren’t the top team in the league for no reason. They put an extraordinary amount of pressure on the Warriors defence and very nearly overcame that four goal deficit.
The Warriors were outshot 18-2 in the final 20 minutes. Connor Ungar made 33 saves on the night and was awarded the Game’s First Star recognition for his efforts.
Connor Ungar is the Warriors real MVP - MJ Independent file photo
Josh Hoekstra scored an empty netter with just three seconds left on the clock. The goal was his first ever WHL postseason goal.
Warriors 5, Ice 3
The series is all tied up at 1-1.
The 2nd and 3rd stars were Winnipeg’s Matthew Savoie and Moose Jaw’s Brayden Yager, who had two goals and an assist.
It definitely wasn’t easy but the Warriors were able to hang on and close out a Game 2 win over an extremely determined Winnipeg Ice team. A much needed win for the good guys. Now they’ll come back to Moose Jaw for Game’s 3 and 4.
Game 3 is on Tuesday at the Hangar. Tickets for the game are still available.