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WHL Moose Jaw Warriors

Warriors Set for Big Four Games this Week

January 17, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release


This week will show the Moose Jaw Warriors a lot about where they shake out heading into the stretch drive this season.

The Warriors will play four games against the two teams ahead of them in the East Division standings, starting with a home-and-home against the Saskatoon Blades.

"It should be fun," Warriors head coach Mark O'Leary said. "We're looking forward to this week probably as much as any week."

Moose Jaw will host Saskatoon on Tuesday and then head into the Bridge City on Wednesday. After that, the Warriors have a two-game set in Winnipeg against the ICE on the weekend.

"Two really good teams, but we're looking forward to the opportunity to play a real good team and we just need to be at our best," O'Leary said.

Heading into the big week, Warriors forward Brayden Yager said the team needs to focus on preparation.

"We need to prepare like we're playing a really good team and it's an four pretty important points," he said.

The Warriors finished last week's four games in five nights stretch on a high note with back-to-back wins over Portland and Brandon last weekend.

Yager said the Warriors were focused for those two games and got the results they were looking forward.

"We really focused on our preparation and we did a really good job," he said.

Coming out of the two wins over the weekend, O'Leary said the Warriors played with intent and that's something he wants to see them carry forward.

"We played fast, we deserved to win both games and we played honest and the right way," he said. "It's not perfect hockey, but our intent to do the right thing was there for both games and that's important.

"It starts in practice, if you're trying to do things the right way, executing, it just carries over into games. I like where we're at right now, we don't expect to win every game, but the intent to win and the intent to do the process the right way needs to be there."

Going up against the Blades over the next two games, O'Leary said that intent will be key as Saskatoon plays a structured game.

"When they're at their best, they play a disciplined structure without the puck, they check hard and they have guys that don't need a whole lot of looks to create offence," he said. "We'll need to be at our best in those areas."

Moose Jaw and Saskatoon met in the first round of last year's playoffs with the Warriors pulling a five-game win in the series. Yager said that will make for some good hockey over the next two games.

"We usually have pretty good games against Saskatoon," he said. "A hard fought battle last year in the playoffs, so it's stirred up the pot a little bit, so they're pretty fun games."

The Warriors and Blades square off on Two-For-Tuesday night at the Hangar to open up the home-and-home series. Click here to purchase tickets

Puck drops at 7 p.m. Tune into all the action on Country 100 and TSN.ca with the Pre-Game Show starting on IKS Media Warriors Live at 6:45 p.m. on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Check out the Moose Jaw Warriors Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2023


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