By Matthew Gourlie
The Moose Jaw Warriors have found ways to win games ugly this season.
Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Warriors were able to score four unanswered goals to beat the Saskatoon Blades 6-3 at Mosaic Place.
It was only fitting that it was a trio of hard-working goals by Tanner Jeannot that carried the day in a hard-fought East Division battle.
“If we stick to the game it’s going to work out for us,” Jeannot said. “We stuck to it and pucks started going in for us.
“We’re a growing team and we know what we can accomplish this year. We just have to keep following the game plan and keep getting better.”
The Warriors (18-5) opened the scoring on a Brayden Burke breakaway 1:34 into the game.
Libor Hajek tied the game for the Blades (8-12-1-0) before Michael Farren gave the Blades a 2-1 lead on a five-on-three power play. Jeannot was able to tie the game before the end of the period to seize a little momentum for the home team.
Saskatoon’s Josh Paterson and Moose Jaw’s Jayden Halbgewachs traded power play goals in the second.
Jeannot deflected a Justin Almeida shot with 4:43 left in the game and buried a rebound to round out his hat trick.
It was Jeannot’s second hat trick of the season. Jeannot had 19 goals in 71 games a year ago, but has 16 already this season and sits in the top-10 in the WHL.
“I’m a bigger guy and that’s our style of game. We want to get to the inside, get pucks on the net and crash and bang. I got some pretty good bounces tonight and they ended up going in for me,” Jeannot said.
Burke scored his second of the night into an empty net to round out the scoring. Almeida finished with four assists.
The Blades hit the cross bar while the score was still 4-3 and did a good job of getting pucks and traffic to the Warriors net all game.
“They’re a hard-working team over there,” Jeannot said. “They forecheck really hard and get pucks to the net. We knew coming into the game we had to be really good in our home plate in front of our net and win those battles.”
For the fourth time this week, the Warriors leaned heavily on 15-year-old defenceman Daemon Hunt. The first round Bantam selection has been thrown into the deep end, playing in all situations and logging in the range of 20-25 minutes per night over the past four games.
“It’s definitely been a challenge for me, but I’ve accepted that challenge,” Hunt said. “These last four games have been an unbelievable experience to get a feel for the WHL and I’m just happy that I got the chance to play at this level and I’m just honoured to be here.”
With Josh Brook, Jett Woo and Matthew Benson all out injured, the Warriors received permission from the league to allow Hunt to play his sixth game as an underage player Saturday.
“They’re fast out there, but I just have to keep it simple, play my game and be myself,” Hunt said. “The coaches have given me pointers and tips to help me out. My teammates have been great. I played with Dmitri Zaitsev a lot tonight. He’s a great defenceman, he moves the puck well and talks a lot. He helped me a lot in this journey so far.”
Whether Hunt gets to play again this regular season remains to be seen, but Warriors head coach Tim Hunter believed that Hunt was good enough to make the team this season. He has shown that were he able to stay up he would be capable of logging regular minutes.
“I would love to here longer. This is where I want to be,” Hunt said. “I’m not disappointed. I’m glad I got this experience under my belt so far and I can’t wait to come back some day and show what I can do.”
While Hunt is accustomed to logging a lot of ice time, the toll of playing four games in five nights was starting to show against the Blades.
“It was getting to me a bit, but you have to keep fighting through it,” Hunt said. “It’s been a grind.”
Hunt had a goal and an assist in his six games and finished as a plus-four. The 15th overall pick in last year’s bantam draft has 12 assists in 11 games for his midget AAA team in Brandon. They own a 15-2 record for a share of first place in the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League.
“It’s a big confidence builder going back to midget. The game is going to be slower, but I want to use that to my advantage and help the guys out in Brandon,” Hunt said.
The Blades and Warriors will meet again Tuesday in Moose Jaw.
