Good friends will face each other in next round of WHL playoffs
Forwards with Warriors and Broncos were teammates until late this season
When the Moose Jaw Warriors and Swift Current Broncos meet in the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs, two best friends and former linemates will be going head-to-head.
Broncos forward Conor Geekie and Warriors forward Matthew Savoie — two of the top players in the WHL — will be on opposing sides of the ice from each other after spending much of the last four years together.
“It's something we kind of thought might happen and I think it's going to be a cool experience,” Geekie, 19, said in advance of Game 1 on Friday night in Moose Jaw.
“I think it'll be cool,” added Savoie, 19. “I think it'll be a little bit weird but there's no friends on the ice, we've made that pretty clear to each other.
“We're both competitors. We're both going to go out there every night and work our hardest and do our best to shut the other guy down and try to come out with the win.”
After being selected by the Winnipeg Ice with the No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the 2019 WHL draft, respectively, Savoie and Geekie have been side-by-side throughout their entire junior hockey careers.
Along with playing together in Winnipeg, the duo went through the 2022 NHL draft together, with Savoie being selected ninth overall by the Buffalo Sabres and Geekie two picks later by the Arizona Coyotes.
After making it to the WHL final with Winnipeg last year, the duo made the move to Wenatchee this off-season when the Ice relocated. They played together on Canada's world junior team this winter but when January's trade deadline came, they were each moved with Savoie going to Moose Jaw for seven draft picks while Geekie went to Swift Current for three players and four picks.
“It's been pretty cool to have that relationship with him over the past four years,” said Savoie. “And then this year when we got traded to separate teams continuing that through texts and through Facetime a little bit.
“But when playoffs start, it's really time to just focus on your group and the team that you're with and I think we both have done a good job of that.”
In the first round of the WHL playoffs, Moose Jaw beat the Brandon Wheat Kings in four straight games, with the 5-foot10, 179-pound Savoie scoring a goal in each of the contests after putting up 47 points in 23 games since joining the Warriors.
“We executed when we needed to and we were able to make good plays and find the back of the net,” said Savoie, who hails from St. Albert, Alta. “I'm always trying to contribute in any way I can.
“Any time you can put up some goals and some points, it's a positive.”
Meanwhile, the Broncos also swept their first-round opponent, beating the Lethbridge Hurricanes in four straight. The 6-foot-4, 197-pound Geekie scored in each of the four games, including the overtime winner in Game 4 after Swift Current found themselves down 4-1 in the second period.
“We just knew that we had to stick with it and trust the process and that's kind of what happened,” said Geekie, a Strathclair, Man., product who had 50 points in 29 games with Swift Current in the regular season.
“A lot of our game just stems from us playing together as a team and we all know how to play with each other.”
In the regular season, Swift Current finished first in the Central Division with a 40-22-6 record for 86 points, while Moose Jaw finished second in the East Division with a 44-21-3 record for 91 points.
The season series between the teams was tied 3-3.
“I think they're a really good team,” Savoie said of the Broncos. “They have a lot of veteran presence on that side that have been in the league for a long time and kind of know what to expect at this time of the year.”
“They're really skilled,” Geekie said of the Warriors. “You've always got to know who's on the ice and when.”
And there's no doubt in the series that the friends will find themselves on the ice at the same time, battling for the right to advance to the Eastern Conference final where they will face the winner of the Saskatoon Blades and Red Deer Rebels series.
“Whichever combination our coach puts out there, I think I'll agree with,” said Savoie. “But yeah, I always like the toughest matchup and playing against the other team's best player.”
And while they will likely see a lot of each other on the ice, neither is expecting to hear from the other one off the ice.
“I'm sure we'll talk a bunch after but leading up to it, we're trying to just keep it even keel and keep it to ourselves,” said Geekie.
I think it'll be a little bit weird but there's no friends on the ice, we've made that pretty clear to each other.