Keith Hershmiller
East Division, Game Recap

Shorthanded Warriors drop fourth in a row

Written by Jamie Neugebauer on

 

REGINA – Peyton Krebs led the way with a goal and two assists and the Winnipeg ICE (6-3-0) handed the severely shorthanded Moose Jaw Warriors (4-5-0) a 4-1 defeat Sunday evening.

Moose Jaw was missing suspended the Captain Daemon Hunt, who was handed a five-minute head-contact major Saturday night vs. Prince Albert, as well as key pieces in the injured Ryder Korczak, Max Wanner, and Cade Hayes.

Warriors’ head coach Mark O’Leary, as befits his personality, was upbeat with his team’s performance post-game despite the club’s fourth consecutive defeat.

“Anytime you’re in a tough situation, with guys out of your lineup, you look at it as an opportunity for others,” he said.

“I thought these last two games we have shown an awful lot. Right now, I’m proud of the group, and I like a lot of the parts of our game right now. We’re playing the right way, sure we’re making mistakes, but I think our responses to the negative things happening has been positive. I think we’re getting pucks in the right areas, it’s just about getting the puck across the line. It’s a tough stretch right now, the losses keep coming, but I feel confident that we’ll get out of this, and I like the way our group is playing.”

For his part, Moose Jaw veteran Tate Popple, who played in his 182nd regular-season game as a Warrior, is following his coach’s lead by choosing to stay positive.

“I think we’re going through a little bit of a rough patch right now,” he said post-game, “but I think we just have to stay positive and keep going, keep playing our style of game.

“We have shown that we’re a good team when we do play well, and I think we just need to stay positive. I think when our top guys are out it’s a little bit more pressure on everyone, but I just try to focus on my own game, and not let it affect too much. Especially Daemon out, it’s obviously going to affect the way the team plays, he’s the heart and soul of our line-up; it’s tough when he’s out, but like I said before we have to battle through and keep going.”

The Warriors were not rewarded for a strong start, and an early 8-1 edge in shots, as Jakin Smallwood found some space in the high slot, and beat Boston Bilous clean with a long wrister 10:10 into the game.

For the second time on the weekend, Moose Jaw found itself down early despite a decent performance to open the contest.

It would not get better for Bilous, and he was pulled in favour of the rookie Brett Mirwald for the third time in his last four appearances when Peyton Krebs popped in his sixth of the year, from a bad angle, at the 11:37-mark of the opening frame. It was Winnipeg’s second goal on four shots.

“For sure there are some guys we’re trying to drag in the fight here,” said O’Leary.

“When I talk about our game as a whole, the majority of the players are playing to the standards at the level we need to be at, but there are probably a few stragglers and that’s normal for any team. I definitely think there are a few guys we can expect more from.”

Mirwald was key in keeping the Warriors in the contest as penalty trouble was stretching the already-hurting Moose Jaw depth; his numerous big-time stops included one from point-blank range on Krebs, the Las Vegas Golden Knights first-rounder, at the mid-way point of the middle stanza.

The Warriors’ compete-level was present, but the confidence to string passes together and generate offence was lacking through 40 minutes.

Anderson MacDonald was awarded a penalty shot with 23.7 seconds left in the second period, and Mirwald caught a break as the near-perfectly placed wrister hit the cross-bar, dropped straight down on the goal line, and stayed out.

Could the Warriors take advantage of all these bounces?

Moose Jaw’s lifelines kept coming, as the ICE hit their fifth post of the contest seven minutes into the third, and Mirwald stayed strong; but the clear-cut opportunities just could not be carved out, despite the work ethic.

It finally broke the Warriors’ way at the 10:35-mark of the third as Eric Alarie one-timed his sixth of the campaign past Daniel Hauser from the left dot. Alarie, the 2003-born draft-eligible forward, accounted for a full quarter of Moose Jaw’s 24 goals on the year when the puck crossed the line.

“I think the biggest thing about Eric is that he is such a driven individual,” O’Leary said.

“Coaches love to work with players like him. We can lean on him, he’s willing to do whatever he needs to do. He had a really great off-season, gained a lot of confidence in terms of the work he put in. You’re also seeing a different guy off the ice, in that he’s a little more comfortable in this second year. He has been through the grind of a WHL season this year, I just see a more confident kid and I just see him smiling more. There is a little more enjoyment in his work, and it is showing in his play. He’s a hardworking kid and it’s fun to see him rewarded.”

The Warriors then shot themselves in the foot three times only minutes later.

Shot No. 1 came when they allowed a Cole Muir goal at the end of a power play at 15:49 that saw the Moose Jaw player in the box skate across the ice to change, instead of joining the fray with the puck deep in the Warriors’ end.

The others were born of frustration.

The second shot happened right when the puck went in, as Calder Anderson cross-checked an ICE player from behind to put Winnipeg right back on the man-advantage, and then No. 3 was moments after that when Josh Hoekstra drilled ICE rookie Conor Geekie head-first into the boards from behind and got himself kicked out.

Moose Jaw could not crawl any closer despite a later power play, and Jackson Leppard added a late empty netter.

Warriors’ Nolan Jones and Logan Doust also earned themselves 10-minute misconducts late in the third period.

Moose Jaw will look to snap its losing streak Tuesday night in the second ‘Trans-Canada Clash’ of the season vs. the Regina Pats, puck drops at 8:00 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.