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WHL Moose Jaw Warriors

Warriors Drop Tight Game to Blades in Saskatoon

February 27, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release


The Moose Jaw Warriors pushed right until the end, but came up a bit short on Sunday afternoon in Saskatoon, falling 4-2 to the Blades at SaskTel Centre.

It was just the third loss for the Warriors in the past 16 games, but allowed the Blades to gain some valuable ground in the battle for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"We know coming into this game that we were both right beside each other in the standings, we had to come here with the right attitude and we did that for 40 minutes, but we didn't have it for the whole 60," Warriors forward Jagger Firkus said after the loss.

The Warriors now hold a four-point lead on the Blades for fourth place. Saskatoon has three games in hand.

Saskatoon led for much of the game, but Moose Jaw scored late to make it a one-goal game in the final minute.

"We had a couple looks there at the end to tie it and a couple of close calls, but I thought it was a little bit of a slow start," Warriors assistant coach Scott King said.

Tristen Robins opened the scoring for Saskatoon 7:03 into the game and the score would stay that way through the rest of the first period.

The Warriors came out firing to start the second period and Firkus blasted home his team-leading 30th goal of the season just 5:19 into the frame to tie the game.

Moose Jaw kept the momentum going with some good chances after that, but couldn't break through for the go-ahead goal.

Saskatoon broke through just past the midway point of the period when Vaughn Watterodt scored to make it 2-1.

Just over four minutes later, Trevor Wong tipped in a point shot to give the Blades a two-goal lead after two.

The Warriors pressured the Blades throughout the third period and finally cut the lead to one with 3:02 left to play when Ryder Korczak rifled home his 19th of the season.

Moose Jaw continued to pressure, but Saskatoon iced the game with an empty net goal by Kyle Crnkovic with 17 seconds left.

"Their goalie, [Nolan] Maier, was good, he made some saves, but we generated enough looks where we had chances and we could have scored a little bit more," King said.

Maier made 25 saves for the Blades, while Carl Tetachuk turned away 27 shots in goal for the Warriors.

Firkus said this loss leaves a bit of a sour taste in the team's mouth because they were so close so many times throughout the game.

"The bounces didn't go our way tonight, we can't do much about that and we've got to put it behind us and just look to the future," he said.

"We're a bounce back team and we're going to do that next Friday. We'll come into that game a bit upset about this game and show them what we can do."

The Warriors went 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Moose Jaw will return to the ice for two home games next weekend when the Prince Albert Raiders come to town on Friday and the Brandon Wheat Kings are at Mosaic Place on Saturday.

Tickets for those games are available at mjwarriors.ca, including the Playoff Push Pack, which gives fans tickets to the final seven home games of the regular season and reserves their seat for any potential post-season games. Click here to purchase a Playoff Push Pack.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2022


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