Warriors Building off Strong Play Going to Alberta
December 1, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release
Red Deer, AB - The Moose Jaw Warriors are coming off a pair of strong wins, including Tuesday's 4-0 shutout victory over Swift Current.
The team is focused on building off those performances now as it prepares to open a two-game Alberta road trip in Red Deer on Friday night.
Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said a big part of the Warriors' success in Tuesday's win was how to pressured the puck.
"When you're quick to check, it creates opportunities to go the other way and our offence was going in the win," he said.
The Warriors enter Friday's meeting with Red Deer on the strength of back-to-back wins, but they will be facing the hottest team in the Eastern Conference with the Rebels unbeaten in regulation in their last six games.
"They're hot right now, so they're going to be a good challenge for us," Mateychuk said. "We've just got to come in and bring that same physicality and effort that we did against Swift Current."
Moose Jaw sits third in the Eastern Conference with a 15-10-0-1 record, while Red Deer has climbed into the eighth spot at 11-9-0-3, just six points back.
After Friday's meeting with the Rebels, the Warriors will head into Edmonton to battle the Oil Kings, who are 11th with a 7-16-0-1 record.
Warriors forward Brayden Yager said the team's focus needs to be on playing their game going into both games this weekend.
"We haven't played Red Deer year, but they play hard, they check hard, so I think we just need to keep rolling [with what worked against Swift Current and Prince Albert] and then we've got Edmonton, they work really hard, they're not at the top of the standings, but we know they work," he said.
The Rebels use a strong forecheck game to drive their offence and Mateychuk said the Warriors will need to be sharp in the defensive end to have success.
"You're going to get bumped in the corners, they're going to be hard in on the forecheck," he said. "You want to break up pucks quick and move pucks quick and then jump, so just keeping it simple and getting pucks over to your partner and up to the forwards as quick is the key."
A tough two-game road trip to Alberta at the start of November is still in the back of the Warriors' mind as they open this trip.
"Our last swing in Alberta wasn't the best, so we want to bounce back from that and have a good weekend of games," Mateychuk said.
"It starts with preparation, it's not going to be the same as coming into the Hangar and playing in front of our fans, other teams are going to have their fans and they're going to be going wild, especially on the weekend games, so we've got keep that out of our mind and just worry about playing the game."
The Warriors battle the Rebels on Friday night at 8 p.m. Tune in live on WHL Live and Country 100 with the Pre-Game Show starting at 7:40 p.m.
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