Warriors show grit with weekend wins
The Moose Jaw Warriors have quickly evolved into the kind of team you want to root for; they are pulling out all the stops as they work hard to win games.
This past weekend, Friday, the Tribe scored with 4:05 remaining in the third before Tristan Langan picked-up the game winner in overtime to down the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2; Saturday afternoon against Lethbridge, the Warriors scored two goals with the goaltender pulled in the final four minutes, to set the stage for Brayden Tracey to score the OT winner in a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes.
Not your typical home-ice wins, but the Warriors have shown through the first half of the season, they aren’t your typical Western Hockey League team, either.
“It just goes to the leadership of the team,” Warriors head coach Tim Hunter said after Saturday’s contest, which was broadcast nationwide on Sportsnet. “(Dalton) Hamaliuk, (Jett) Woo, (Josh) Brook, (Justin) Almeida, Tristan Langan for sure, (Ryan) Peckford, as well. Those guys all drive the engine here and you sprinkle in some good hockey from Brayden Tracey and Dan Stepanov and (Tate) Popple, those guys all stepped up and played hard tonight. So, it was a team effort and showed the kind of character those players have.”
The Warriors improved to 12-5-3-1 on the season with their fifth-straight win and seventh-straight game with at least a point. They now sit third in the East Division, four points back of Saskatoon with four games in hand The win over Lethbridge saw the two teams scoreless through the first two periods. That all changed in the final frame, though, when the Hurricanes’ Taylor Ross opened scoring five minutes in and Keltie Jeri-Leon added a then-insurance marker midway through the frame. That set the stage for the second comeback of the weekend.
Brook got the Warriors back to within one when his point shot beat goaltender Reece Klassen with 3:26 remaining – a goal that came with Tribe netminder Adam Evanoff pulled for the extra attacker and the Warriors on the power play.
Langan – the reigning WHL player of the week – then tied the game with 1:25 left in the game and Evanoff again on the bench for the extra attacker. Tracey finished things off 3:40 into overtime.
“Lethbridge didnt’ show a lot of wear from playing last night and getting in late, so it was just moments where we had command of the game and then we didn’t compete as hard as we could,” Hunter said. “But that’s junior hockey; that’s the second time we’ve scored two goals with the goalie out and that shows they’ll compete when the chips are on the line and that’s a good sign.” Evanoff turned in a solid performance, making 25 saves, while the Warriors fired 33 at Reece Klassen.
The previous night, Vince Loschiavo’s power play goal 4:08 into the third put Edmonton ahead late. Kaeden Taphorn then scored the tying goal with 4:05 remaining and put things in motion for Langan’s overtime heroics. “I think we’re a real good team in overtime, I think we understand how to play in overtime, how to check,” Hunter said. “They’re all confidence builders, it allows us to get guys into the game and play in these environments and this will bode-well for their development down the stretch when we try to get into a playoff spot.” The Warriors are back in action with a four-game-infive-night road trip through the B.C. and Central Divisions, beginning Wednesday when they travel to Cranbrook to face the Kootenay Ice.