WHL Moose Jaw Warriors

Warriors Look to Bounce Back in Winnipeg for Game 5

Published on April 22, 2023 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release


Winnipeg, MB - The Eastern Conference semifinal is down to a best-of-three.

The Moose Jaw Warriors head back into Winnipeg looking for a repeat performance of their Game 2 win over the ICE.

"We've talked about resetting all playoffs here and this is maybe the easiest one to reset for, it's 2-2 and we won two out of the first three in this series, we just have to do it again," Warriors head coach Mark O'Leary said.

After taking a 2-1 series lead with a lopsided 8-4 win in Game 3, the Warriors dropped a heartbreaker in Game 4, falling 3-2 in overtime to the ICE.

The Warriors feel like the loss could have went either way.

"We had enough chances to win," Warriors forward Jagger Firkus said. "Obviously we should probably bear down a little bit in scoring those, but moving forward, we know we're going to get our looks and it's just about next game now."

Winnipeg scored first in both games in Moose Jaw, so the Warriors will be looking for a better start going into Game 5 at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

"Our starts weren't the best over the last couple of games, so making sure we can start better will help us get through the game," Firkus said.

O'Leary said getting back into the win column in Game 5 will take the Warriors focusing on what has given them success in the series.

"When we have the puck, we need to manage it and when we don't have the puck, we need to have guys finishing on top and we do that and we make life difficult for Winnipeg, we give ourselves a chance to play in the offensive zone when we have the puck," he said.

Going into Winnipeg has been a tough place to play for the Warriors historically, however, Moose Jaw has won two of their past three games at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

Firkus said the Warriors have confidence heading into Game 5.

"We know they're a good team, we're a good team, so we'll be ready for them and just going to make sure we come out harder," he said.

"We're in a place where we're just going to Winnipeg to win a hockey game, it doesn't need to be any more difficult than that," O'Leary added. "It's a real good team that we're playing against, but when we're playing to our standards, we're a pretty good team as well."

The Warriors and ICE meet for Game 5 on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

The two teams will shift back to Moose Jaw for Game 6 coming up on Monday.

Check out the Moose Jaw Warriors Statistics

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