Keith Hershmiller
East Division, Game Recap, WHL

Turnovers critical as Warriors fall to Blades

Written by Jamie Neugebauer on

 

The Moose Jaw Warriors (4-2-0) were dealt a tough lesson during their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Saskatoon (4-0-1) Sunday: to earn a result against a team as veteran and locked-in as the Blades, it is the smallest details that can kill you.

A lack of support from teammates and an overhandle of the puck in the defensive zone led to a turnover, a point shot, and a deflection off the stick of Evan Patrician past a helpless Brett Mirwald: the game-winner at 18:37 of the second period.

Faced with the WHL’s stingiest team, and the only club in the Hub undefeated in regulation, only 24-hours after a game vs. the Swift Current Broncos, and playing their sixth contest in eight days, the young Warriors might have been forgiven a sub-par performance.

But there were no excuses from Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary post-game.

“I don’t think (we can use fatigue as a reason we lost),” he said.

“I think we’ve managed that pretty well, with guys having days off, and I just think we came up against a team here today that was much different from yesterday in terms of how much time you had to make a play. Especially early in the game, I thought we were slow in making decisions, I would not count that to fatigue, I just think it was about getting used to the pace of play, and we’re just not there yet; but we’ll get there.”

An even and energetic first period yielded little in the way of clear-cut scoring chances, with Moose Jaw Captain Daemon Hunt the closest to breaking the tie when his long wrister from the point with 1:35 left glanced off the post to the right of a screened Nolan Maier.

Rookie Warriors’ Brett Mirwald was the busier of the two goaltenders through the first half of the contest, most notably stopping Colton Dach in tight off a rebound six minutes into the second period; but the cagey affair remained deadlocked as both puck stoppers looked razor-sharp.

Moose Jaw Warriors’ goaltender Brett Mirwald makes a stop vs. the Saskatoon Blades (Keith Hershmiller)

Saskatoon’s Tristen Robins finally opened the scoring at 16:52 of the middle frame when, while shorthanded, a Warriors’ turnover at the offensive blueline gifted him a 150-foot breakaway, and the San Jose Sharks’ second-rounder made no mistake.

“I think they are a tight-checking team, they are on you in a hurry,” said O’Leary of the Blades.

“They do a real good job defensively, they forced us into mistakes and those turnovers ended up in the back of the net. They did a real good job against us tonight.”

Robins, who started in the season in the American Hockey League with the Barracuda, almost had his second goal moments later when he fired a bullet off the iron behind Mirwald; but it was clear the Blades smelt blood.

That second marker did come just over a minute and a half after the first as a Pavel Bocharov wrist shot from the point found its way through traffic, was tipped neatly by Evan Patrician in the high slot and lodged behind Mirwald for the eventual winner.

In the blink of an eye, the Warriors faced a two-goal deficit through 40 minutes; but as they have throughout the Hub, O’Leary’s men found a way to get back into it.

Jagger Firkus’ second career goal came when the highly touted 16-year-old tapped in a smooth feed from Cory King after the Warriors’ defenceman had danced around the Blades’ zone untouched at the 3:46-mark of the third period.

It was not enough, as Patrician notched his second at the mid-way point of the period to extend Saskatoon’s lead to two, and Maier solidly did the rest.

The Warriors went 0-for-4 with the power play, snapping a streak of three games in a row with a goal on the man advantage.

“Credit to Saskatoon,” O’Leary said.

“I think they kill a little bit different, they sit inside and dare you to shoot pucks. If you’re going to force things, you’ll create bobbled pucks and turnovers, and they’ll jump on them in a hurry. They did that tonight, and maybe that’s the veteran presence they have in terms of the maturity to be patient, to wait for those moments, and they did a really good job. We’ll go back to the drawing board, it’s just one game, we still feel confident in the group we have…it just wasn’t our night tonight.”

Ryder Korczak’s assist on Firkus’ goal extended his point-scoring streak to four games, with a goal and seven helpers over that span.

“I feel good,” Korczak said post-game.

“The first couple games were a little tough after not playing for a bunch of months, but getting back into the groove of things I feel really good out there. We’re off to a good start here as a team, 4-2 is not bad but we’re not satisfied. We have lots to work on, but we’re looking forward to it here.”

Notes: Both teams were wearing mismatch socks in support of World Down Syndrome Day, in support of Down Syndrome-awareness; Moose Jaw Captain Daemon Hunt was playing his 100th career WHL game; Broadcaster and Director of Communications James Gallo called his 1000th game as the Voice of the Warriors on Country 100 radio in Moose Jaw; Forward Eric Alarie, tied for the Warriors’ lead in goal scoring on the year, was a late scratch in favour of Josh Hoekstra.