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WHL Moose Jaw Warriors

Warriors Cruise Past Hitmen on Teddy Bear Toss Night

December 10, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release


The Moose Jaw Warriors returned to the Hangar with a bang on Friday night.

The Warriors scored six goals in the second period and rolled to a 9-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen in their first game in downtown Moose Jaw in three weeks.

"That was the structure that we wanted to play, there was still a couple of mistakes, but we played the right way, we were hungry on pucks, we were around the net, so we played a really good hockey game tonight," Warriors forward Martin Rysavy said.

Rysavy scored his first two goals of the season and finished with a career-high five points in the win.

The Warriors had 14 different players hit the scoresheet on the night, including two goals from Josh Hoekstra and a goal and two points each from Jagger Firkus, Harper Lolacher and Eric Alarie.

"There's a lot of guys that contributed offensively and it's a good bounce back game for us after losing 5-3 in Calgary," Warriors assistant coach Gord Burnett said.

Lolacher scored the Warriors' 2022 Teddy Bear Toss goal, opening the scoring 7:59 into the first period, sending the bears flying onto the ice.

It was his third goal of his WHL career.

"It's an exciting goal for him, a young kid and getting rained down with teddy bears," Burnett said.

"His development has been incredible, he's come a long way, he's learning the game early in the season and he's earned some more playing time as he's gone along."

Hoekstra and Firkus followed up Lolacher's goal in the first period and gave the Warriors a 3-1 lead after one.

Sean Tschigerl got Calgary on the board with just 19 seconds left in the opening frame.

Hoekstra responded for the Warriors with his second of the night just 1:40 into the second period to start the onslaught.

Alarie made it a 5-1 just before the midway point of the frame with his fifth of the season.

Brayden Yager followed that up with his 17th of the season, tying Firkus for the team-lead in goals with just over six minutes left in the second.

Rysavy's first of the season came with just under five minutes to go in the frame, making it 7-1.

Only 39 seconds later, Lucas Brenton wired home his second of the season to extend the Warriors lead to seven goals.

Rysavy's second of the night, on the power play, finished off the six-goal period. The 19-year-old import forward entered the game with six assists on the year, but hadn't scored.

"I'm just trying to be consistent and wait for points and they came tonight, so I'm really happy," Rysavy said.

"When I had a night like that, it feels incredible, you build the confidence, you enjoy the hockey game, every shift more and more."

The Warriors improve to 19-10-0-0 this season with the win. They will return to the ice on Saturday in Medicine Hat against the Tigers.

Puck drops at 8 p.m. CST. Tune into all the action on Country 100 and WHL Live, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 7:40 p.m.

Check out the Moose Jaw Warriors Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from December 10, 2022


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