Warriors earn some breathing room

By Matthew Gourlie

The last week of 2017 was a big one for the Moose Jaw Warriors.

It may just be five days in a six-month Western Hockey League season, but the Warriors took seven out of a possible eight points without their head coach and captain while squaring off against the second and third ranked teams in the league.

The Warriors capped the week with a 6-2 New Year’s eve win over the Brandon Wheat Kings that came on the heels of a 7-4 win in Brandon.

“Going into Christmas we knew we had four games against the two teams that were right behind us and we wanted to get as many points as possible,” said Warriors left winger Brayden Burke who had a goal and two assists and now has 302 career WHL points. “We got seven of eight, so we have to be happy with that and we gained some ground. Hopefully we can keep winning, but the mood in the dressing room is really good right now.”

Brandon (25-11-0-1) and Swift Current (26-9-2-0) both have two games in hand on the Warriors (30-6-1-2), but Moose Jaw is now nine points ahead of Swift Current and 12 points ahead of Brandon. They don’t have any time to rest on their laurels in the hyper-competitive East Division, but for the first time since opening night, the Warriors have a little breathing room.

Moose Jaw opened the scoring on a power play goal before Stelio Mattheos tied it up for Brandon before the end of the opening frame.

In the second period the Warriors scored six seconds into a power play and then eight seconds into their next power play. Twice Jayden Halbgewachs finished off pretty passing plays in front of the net to score and Burke also sniped as the Warriors man-advantage was razor sharp.

“Our power play is going really well right now. We have a lot of skill out there and they’re flexing their muscle,” said Burke who leads the league with 77 points. “If everybody shares the puck and isn’t selfish, I think we can score a lot of goals. It’s starting to come together really nice.

“There are different kinds of penalty kills that we play against, so we have to use different power plays. Against these guys we thought it was moved around and had patience with the puck things would open up for us.”

The Wheat Kings got a lifeline late in the second period when Tanner Jeannot picked up a double-minor for high sticking. Not only did the Wheat Kings fail to cut into the lead, but Tristin Langan scored on a short-handed breakaway early in the third period to put Moose Jaw ahead 4-1.

The Wheat Kings power play is sorely missing defenceman Kale Clague who is with Canada at the world junior championships. The Warriors are 6-for-14 in their three games against Brandon, while the Wheat Kings power play — sans Clague — is 0-for-17 in those three contests.

Brayden Burke

“Everyone is committing to the penalty kill. Everybody is doing their job out there and we’re getting the kills when we need them,” said Burke who turns 21 on New Year’s Day and has found himself killing penalties and on the ice protecting late leads.

“I came into the season with the right mindset: willing to work hard, willing to play defensively. I found some chemistry with a couple of linemates and it’s gone on from there.”

Langan finished with two goals and Jeannot had a goal and an assist. Halbgewachs had a five-point night and now has 40 goals on the season.

Brody Willms had an excellent game in goal for the Warriors and he made some huge saves when it the game was up for grabs. However, he would have liked another crack at Evan Weinger’s effort that beat him at the post from nearly a 180 degree angle in the third period.

It was a physical contest with plenty of big hits and the Warriors fourth line played a heavy game and were rewarded with a lot of minutes. Branden Klatt and Barrett Sheen were joined by Tristyn DeRoose and the 19-year-olds formed an effective trio.

“We bang bodies, we hit hard, that’s what our line does. If we do the simple things right, things go well for us,” DeRoose said. “It was a good game tonight and that’s what I want to be doing every night.”

Tristyn DeRoose

The season has not gone according to plan for DeRoose who came over from Vancouver during the pre-season. DeRoose has only played in three of the last 18 games for the Warriors, but he said he has tried to keep a positive attitude while trying to earn a spot in the line-up on a more consistent basis.

“It’s been a lot of hard work. I’ve been putting in the hours, trying to get better. It’s a good team, obviously, so you have to be elite to be in the line-up,” DeRoose said. “There is always guys battling hard head-to-head with each other. We’re all good friends, it’s just good competition and we push each other harder every day.”

DeRoose generated some scoring chances and was named the game’s third star for his efforts. He also got the crowd of 4,021 — the biggest crowd since the home opener — fired up when the took on six-foot-five, 252-pound Wheat King Baron Thompson in a rare old-school heavyweight tilt.

“That’s something I love to do, fight for my team,” said DeRoose who had 15 fights last year, second in the WHL, but admitted it’s been harder to find willing combatants this season.

The Warriors out-shot Brandon 44-27.

The Warriors began the night with $20,000 already in the 50-50 draw total and at the end of the night, the winner took home $42,420.