photo courtesy Marc Smith. Marc Smith

Halbgewachs nets 70th goal to tie Warriors record

By Matthew Gourlie

For a split second it looked like it was going to be a dream end to one of the great nights in Moose Jaw Warriors history.

Jayden Halbgewachs had tied Blair Atcheynum’s Warrior franchise record for goals in a season by netting his 70th and was looking to simultaneously break the record, complete hit hat trick and win the game in overtime.

As he broke in on a two-on-one with Brett Howden it looked like he was going to get a great chance to do it — and then Brandon’s Linden McCorrister complete a heroic back-check, disrupted Halbgewach’s shot and sent the Wheat Kings away on a three-on-one rush the other way. That resulted in Stelio Mattheos scoring the game-winning goal in overtime to give the visiting Wheat Kings a 6-5 win.

“It’s always disappointing when you lose, but it was a pretty eventful night,” said Warriors captain Brett Howden. “It’s always fun with the awards and seeing Jayden get to 70 was pretty cool.”

The night began with the Warriors’ awards night and Howden being called up to accept the franchise’s first Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions. Howden summoned the entire team over to pose with the trophy.

Regulation time ended with an incredible tying goal. A deflected shot hit referee Brett Iverson, deflected to the front of the net and Justin Almeida spun and fired a shot that bulged the twine as the buzzer sounded.

In between the night was all about Halbgewachs and his chase for the team record on home ice. He scored two power play goals and could have had more. He took 11 shots on goal as Howden, Tanner Jeannot and the rest of his teammates looked for him all night.

“To just get 70 goals in a season is pretty unreal,” Halbgewachs said. “To tie that record is surreal and obviously it’s a pretty proud moment, but I share that moment with all of my teammates, especially my linemates. Howden and Jeannot were trying all night to feed me… it shows what kind of team we have. We’re all proud of each other.”

The Warriors top line was buzzing all night and accounted for four of their five goals.

Brett Howden

“I was trying to find him a lot tonight — probably a little more than I should have — but it shows what kind of guy he is,” said Howden who had four assists. “Everybody is rooting for him. He scored his 70th and everyone on the bench went nuts. It really shows the kind of character guy he is and what he means to our team.”

Brandon’s Dylan Myskiw made a great glove save to deny Halbgewachs the record on a breakaway and had several other key stops.

“The amount of shots I had were the most I’ve had in any game,” Halbgewachs added. “Their goalie was outstanding. He stood on his head. Lots of those shots should have been goals. If I had beared down a little more it easily could have been (the 71st) goal. He stopped a breakaway, he stopped shots in the slot. He won their team that game tonight, but there were goals I could have had, for sure.”

Both of Halbgewach’s goals came right in front of the net, with his 70th being a deflected shot from the edge of the crease. With everyone in the building knowing he was the centre of attention and only standing five-foot-eight, Halbgewachs still managed to find space to score.

“It’s amazing. He finds all of the small areas to find goals and he’s willing to pay the price to score and it shows,” Howden said. “He has 70 goals and they’re not all easy goals. He gets to the dirty areas and that’s why he’s going to be a good pro.”

Halbgewachs was drafted in the first round by Kamloops, 19th overall, before being dealt to Moose Jaw in a deal that sent Joel Edmundson to the Blazers.

Halbgewachs scored four goals in 59 games in his first full season in Moose Jaw and was a minus-19 — third worst on the team.

Jayden Halbgewachs

“It’s honestly incredible to see him from his first year to these last two years. Even from last year to this year, just the confidence and the maturity in his game — it’s really something special to see,” Howden said.

He broke out in the 2016 playoffs scoring nine goals and collecting 15 points in 10 games and carried that forward. Last season he scored 50 goals and 101 points and now has an incredible 70 goals and 128 points to lead Swift Current’s Glenn Gawdin by three points going into the final game of the season. He was rewarded for his good season by signing with the San Jose Sharks in December.

“You want to get better each year, you want to train hard in the summer to get stronger and faster and you want to bear down and score goals,” Halbgewachs said of his rise. “A lot of it has to do with confidence. Coaches give you confidence and years played in the league gives you confidence. A big thing this year has been the build-up of confidence to bear down, go to the right areas and score goals. Most of my goals this year have been scored right in front of the net.”

Halbgewachs will look to score his 71st goal and break the record Saturday night in Brandon in the regular season finale.

McCorrister opened the scoring 2:15 into the game. Mattheos and Caiden Daley staked them to a 3-1 first period lead before Halbgewachs’ goals tied the game. Cole Reinhardt and Connor Gutenberg gave Brandon short-lived leads. Mattheos and Daley each had three-point nights.

Jeannot and Tristyn DeRoose had the other Warrior goals.

Brody Willms made 26 saves for the Warriors.

Moose Jaw was without Kale Clague, Dmitri Zaitsev, Brandon Schuldhaus and Brayden Burke due to injury, while Barrett Sheen served the third game of his four game suspension. Warriors winger Tristin Langan left in the third period after taking a slash to the arm and did not return.