Warriors sneak past Pats for first win of season

Barring some kind of unnatural disaster, one team was guaranteed to leave the Brandt Centre with its first win of the season on Sunday.

That distinction eventually went to the Moose Jaw Warriors, who escaped a battle of winless clubs with a slim 2-1 decision over the rival Pats in front of 4,697 spectators.

Regina (0-4-0) is one of three WHL teams still searching for its first victory, along with the 0-3-1 Calgary Hitmen and the 0-4-0 Swift Current Broncos.

As luck would have it, at least one of those clubs will be removed from the list on Friday night when the Pats and Broncos meet in Swift Current.

“I don’t think anyone is satisfied with losing, so to get that first win is going to be huge and then it’ll be something we can look back on and build off of,” said Pats’ captain Jake Leschyshyn, whose team was outshot 33-29 in Sunday’s loss. “It’s frustrating. We were right there the whole game. I feel like there’s a couple chances (they needed to capitalize on). We just need to finish and we’re up one and it’s a different game.”

Moose Jaw jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead with goals 7:39 apart by Tristin Langan, whose second marker came on the power play.

Koby Morrisseau put Regina on the board 5:59 into the second period, burying a nice pass by Sergei Alkhimov with an even better shot just inside the left post.

Regina goalie Max Paddock made his presence felt with two minutes left in the second, stretching out to make a big toe save on Ryan Peckford’s redirection from the doorstep.

The Pats continued to turn up the heat in the third period, outshooting Moose Jaw 12-7. They were awarded a power play with 3:40 left but couldn’t beat goalie Brodan Salmond, who finished with 28 saves as Moose Jaw improved its record to 1-2-1.

Regina’s last gasp came with a minute left as Paddock was sent to the bench for an extra attacker, but Moose Jaw was able to kill the clock.

NOTE: The Pats held a special pre-game ceremony — including a video tribute featuring testimonials from former players — to honour longtime athletic therapist Greg Mayer, who worked his 1,500th career WHL game. Mayer began his WHL career with Moose Jaw before leaving to join the Pats in 2004-05.