Red Deer didn’t see it coming. No one did.
The Moose Jaw Warriors are the second ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League and even they didn’t see it coming.
69. The number of times the Warriors put the puck on the Red Deer net. An inconceivable number of times the rubber made its way to the 
four-by-six cage.
Almost as amazing was the number of saves Riley Lamb made, keeping this game respectably close on the scoresheet. 63 saves. Enough to bump his season save percentage from .882 to .890 with a .913 in game save percentage.
Brent Sutter was not happy with his team’s effort in this game, offering not much in the post game scrum. “You guys seen what it was like tonight… it was a long two hours and 15 minutes.”
It didn’t start off that awful for the Rebels though. The team actually posted the first goal in the game 11:51 into the first period. A Rebels power play would see Mason McCarty net his 19th goal of the year, putting him just two goals from his career high. The goal came on the power play. The Rebels would also go 2-for-6 on the night.
Moose Jaw wasn’t long for trailing the Rebels though. Just over two and a half minutes later Vince Loschiavo would net his 12th goal of the season to even up the score.
Another two and half minutes later, WHL point scoring leader Brayden Burke would get his first goal of the night. Ryan Peckford would pick up his eighth point in as many games with his new team and the Warriors would take a 2-1 lead into the dressing rooms. They had also out shot the Rebels 22-6 in the period.
The Rebels would come out and surprisingly tie the game when Chris Douglas chipped a shot over the fallen Brody Willms. It would be his third goal on the season.
This would be short-lived yet again as Moose Jaw took over the game just two minutes and 28 seconds later when Tristyn DeRoose would get his second WHL goal in his 19th game. The Warriors wouldn’t look back.
Jayden Halbegewachs would net his 41st goal of the season with 2:05 to go in the second period. It would come on the power play. Moose Jaw did struggle in this game with getting pucks to the net on the power play as the Red Deer penalty killers blocked an unhealthy amount of shots headed towards Riley Lamb. This would be the only power play goal the Warriors could score in five chances.
Halbegewachs’ goal would prove to be the game winner as Red Deer would only muster one more goal in the game with just over five minutes left.
The second period shots would be 33-7 for Moose Jaw for a total of 55 in just 40 minutes of play. Red Deer would have just 13.
Early in the third period, Brayden Burke would get his second of the game to lift him to 80 points on the season. It would come shorthanded on a breakaway. Moose Jaw would have a 5-2 lead at this point. Justin Almedia would add his third assist of the night.
Ryan Peckford would get his ninth point as a Warrior, when he salted the game away 13:22 into the third period.
On a late 5-on-3 power play the Rebels would get their third goal of the night, Dawson Barteaux would get his second WHL goal.
The final score 6-3 Moose Jaw. The story of the game, shots would end 69-21 in favour of the Warriors.
Rebel Yell…Riley Lamb was named the game’s first star. Brayden Burke would get the 2nd and Justin Almedia the 3rd. Every single Warrior had a shot on net in this one. Jayden Halbegewachs would lead all players with 10 shots on goal. Seven Rebels had two shots a piece. Branden Klatt was the best Warrior in the faceoff circle going 7-of-11. Grayson Pawlenchuk was the best Rebel going 10-for-15. Red Deer now heads off on a four games in five nights road trip, their next action is on Friday in Saskatoon as they take on the Blades. Game time is 7Pm at the SaskTel Centre, Cam Moon will have the radio broadcast starting at 5:50PM in Red Deer on 106.7 the drive.
