WHL Moose Jaw Warriors

Warriors Fly Past Pats in Snowbirds Night Rout

March 20, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release


In front of a sold-out crowd, the Moose Jaw Warriors put on a show on Saturday night at Mosaic Place.

The Warriors hit double digits on the scoreboard on their way to a 10-4 beating of the Regina Pats on the 10th annual Snowbirds Night.

"We played our game tonight, we had four lines and three D pairings going," Warriors defenceman Denton Mateychuk said after the win.

"We were hungry for a win after that game against Winnipeg and we did a great job coming out and putting pressure on them."

Mateychuk led the charge for the Warriors with a career-night, finishing with six assists in the win.

He's the first Warrior since Derek Krestanovich on Mar. 6, 2002 to post six assists in a game and just the third Warrior in the Internet era to accomplish the feat.

"I honestly couldn't tell you [when the last time he had six assists in game]," Mateychuk said. "It probably would have been before peewee maybe even, it's been quite a while and it's pretty cool to do that today."

The scoring came from throughout the lineup for the Warriors as 10 different players scored and 13 players finished with at least one point.

"We were really opportunistic tonight, seems like every chance we got, we buried," Warriors assistant coach Scott King said. "It was a nice win and we'll take that for sure."

Despite the lopsided score, the Pats actually outshot the Warriors, 45-33, on the night.

King said Regina made it a hard game on them.

"They played hard, but we were resilient," he said. "We battled and we got pucks inside and we got there."

Mosaic Place was packed with 4,895 fans as the Warriors honoured the Canadian Forces Snowbirds with special edition jerseys and a pre-game ceremony.

King said the Warriors wanted to put on a show for the fans.

"All the credit goes to the guys, they pushed hard for this one and they knew it was going to be an important game, Snowbirds Night is a very important game for the organization," he said.

Martin Rysavy kicked off the night in style, finishing off his own rebound on a breakaway just 3:45 into the game for his seventh of the season.

The Warriors gain full momentum later in the period when Ryder Korczak wired home his 21st of the season at 13:43 to make it 2-0.

Just under a minute later, Daemon Hunt made it a three-goal lead with his 17th of the season.

Atley Calvert finished off the first period offensive onslaught with his 14th of the season with 3:07 left in the opening frame.

The Pats got on the board less than a minute later when Tye Spencer scored.

Moose Jaw didn't waste any time early in the second period when Calder Anderson scored his third of the season just 1:23 into the frame.

Connor Bedard answered back only 32 seconds later, but Robert Baco restored the Warriors four-goal lead only a minute after that on a breakaway to make it 6-1 just 2:55 into the second.

Majid Kaddoura blasted home his fifth of the season just past the midway point to make it a 7-1 game.

Cole Dubinsky would make it 7-2 heading into third with a late power play goal to end the second.

The Warriors started quickly again in the third period with Eric Alarie scoring his 19th of the season just 1:28 into the frame.

Then Brayden Yager picked up his 32nd of the season on the power play at 8:49 and Jagger Firkus retook the team goal-scoring lead with his 33rd of the season on the power play less than two minutes later.

Braxton Whitehead finished off the 14-goal night with 5:29 to play in the game.

Firkus had a goal and three points in the win, while Robert Baco, Eric Alarie, Daemon Hunt, Majid Kaddoura, Martin Rysavy and Ryder Korczak all finished with a goal and two points.

Carl Tetachuk made 41 saves in goal for his 27th win of the season.

The Warriors 3-for-4 on the power play and held Regina to a 1-for-4 night on the penalty kill.

Moose Jaw moved three points up on Saskatoon for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with the win.

The Warriors will return to home ice next Saturday when they host the Blades at Mosaic Place.

Check out the Moose Jaw Warriors Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from March 20, 2022


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