Warriors split weekend games with Red Deer, Prince Albert
Moose Jaw posts 5-2 win over Rebels, fall 5-1 to Raiders
The Moose Jaw Warriors’ 5-2 victory over the Red Deer Rebels in Western Hockey League action on Friday night brought about some story highlights. The first and immediate interesting storyline was the on-ice return of veteran goaltender Adam Evanoff. After missing the first month of the campaign recovering from off-season hip surgery, Evanoff dressed for his first game of the season last weekend in Saskatoon and was finally between the pipes on Friday at Mosaic Place.
He would end up carrying a shut-out into the third period despite facing a steady barrage of shots and would end up making 36 saves on the night to earn the win. Then you had Brayden Tracey.
The Anaheim Ducks draft pick scored four goals for the Tribe, giving him seven in the Warriors last two games. He’s moved up to 21st in league scoring with eight goals and 16 points in only eight games.
And finally, Ryder Korczak. Despite playing only his second season in the WHL, the 17-year-old forward temporarily took over the league scoring lead after a four-assist night, giving him six goals, 17 assists and 23 points in only 14 games.
But first things first.
“It’s been a long run, so it felt good to get back in there and contribute to the team,” said Evanoff, who last played on Mar. 27 in the Warriors 4-3 season-ending playoff loss to Saskatoon. “I was definitely a little bit nervous, but once I was able to make a few stops I was able to get settled down pretty quick.”
The Rebels made sure to test Evanoff as often as possible but were unable to get a shot past him until early in the third period. Chris Douglas and Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Jaxsen Wiebe scored for Red Deer at 2:06 and 5:47. Wiebe now has two goals and three points in 14 games this season.
The game was scoreless after the first period before the Warriors scored three in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Matthew Benson scored the eventual game winner with 5:53 to play in the period.
The next night against Prince Albert, things didn’t go as well.
The Raiders came out of the gate absolutely blazing, outshooting the Warriors 18-3 at one point in the opening frame as they built a 3-0 lead before extending their edge to 5-0 and cruising to a 5-1 victory. Coach Tim Hunter pointed to a poor compete level right off the hop as well as a lack of solid play on the puck as being the difference in the contest.
“We did some of that last night and it caught up to us, it showed in the third period,” Hunter said. “We said we couldn’t have that tonight against a better team here in P.A. and we didn’t get the message… It’s unfortunate, we slowly got better as the game went along but it’s too little too late when they’re comfortable playing with a 5-0 lead. So there are lessons to be learned, that there are no margins for error when you’re playing a good team in this league.”
Aliaksei Protas scored twice and added an assist to take over the WHL scoring lead from the Korczak with 12 goals and 26 points in 16 games.
Korczak scored the lone goal for the Tribe, with his marker coming with 2:48 remaining in the contest. Brayden Watts, Spencer Moe and Evan Herman also scored for Prince Albert. Bailey Brkin got the start in goal but was pulled in favour of Adam Evanoff after the Raiders’ fourth goal. Brkin would stop 18 shots, Evanoff turned aside 12 the rest of the way.
The Warriors fired 32 shots on Carter Serhyenko.
Moose Jaw dropped back down to .500 and sit at 7-7-1-0 on the season, good enough for fourth place in the East Division and the second wild-card playoff spot. Prince Albert improved to 11-2-3-0 with the victory and hold down first spot in the East.
The Warriors are back in action Friday, Nov. 8 when they host the Winnipeg Ice. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.