Warriors finish home stand with OT win

By Matthew Gourlie

The Moose Jaw Warriors wore some loud jerseys Saturday night.

It was only fitting for a team that has made a lot of noise so far this season.

The Warriors improved their record to 7-1 thanks to a 4-3 overtime win over the Vancouver Giants. The Warriors were wearing Don Cherry-themed red plaid suit jerseys to help promote organ donation.

The Warriors may own the second-best record in the Western Hockey League, but they’re not satisfied with their start.

Brett Howden

“We’re happy with our record right now, but we’re not pleased with the way we’re playing. We still have a lot more to offer,” said Warriors captain Brett Howden who had three assists and collected his 200th WHL point on the OT winner.

“We still have a lot to learn. We have a long way to go to where we want to be. We just have to keep learning every game and at some point here we have to turn the tables and play how we want to play.”

Moose Jaw squandered a 3-1 lead, but earned two points when Jayden Halbgewachs was able to beat Milos Roman one-on-one and cut across front of the goal and beat Giants goalie Todd Scott.

The Warriors opened the season with seven of their first eight games at Mosaic Place. They will now play seven straight road games during their U.S. Division road trip.

“We still have a lot of work to do and this trip will be huge for us,” Howden said. “It could be a big turing point in our season. We’re really looking forward to heading out.”

Howden said the trip will good for bringing an already close, veteran group even closer together. It will also be a good test as they prepare to play some quality teams in the U.S. Division in rapid succession.

“We’ve talked about what we want to do better, but we haven’t really performed it,” Howden said. “It’s all right where we are now, but it’s not where we want to be. We have a lot of improvements to make. Don’t get me wrong, we’re playing hard sometimes… but we have to do it consistently. That’s something we have to figure out. Coming down the stretch there’s going to be games where we’re going to have to really bear down and play hard. We have to figure that out now.”

The Warriors have only beaten one team this season that currently has a winning record.

“The teams we have been playing having been playing hard. Everybody competes every night. I think we still have another level to our game, but I think every time you’re on the ice, you’re against guys who are competing hard.”

The Giants played well and their speed and skill gave the Warriors problems.

Former Warrior Brayden Watts opened the scoring with his first of two goals on the night.

Jett Woo tied the game before Justin Almeida and Brayden Burke scored to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead. The Giants responded and tied the game before the end of the second period with Watts’ sixth of the season followed by a Dylan Plouffe point shot through traffic.

Brayden Watts

“It felt good, but obviously the losing part wasn’t much fun,” said Watts of his two-goal return. “They’ve given me a lot of opportunity over the last year and this year I’m just doing what I can with it.”

After losing 1-0 to the unbeaten Swift Current Broncos to open their trip, the Giants are happy with their play — if not necessarily the end result.

“Swift Current and the Warriors are very good teams,” Watts said. “We played hard against them, so we can gain some confidence from that and move on.”

Halbgewachs finished with three points.

The Giants were missing former first overall bantam selection Tyler Benson who is week-to-week with a lower body injury. Benson has yet to play this season. Former Warriors draft pick Marcus Kichton was also scratched and has only played in two of the Giants’ eight games this season to date.

The Warriors’ Don Cherry themed jerseys were be auctioned off with the proceeds going to Saskatchewan branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.