Warriors confidence hasn’t wavered

By Matthew Gourlie

The Moose Jaw Warriors and Regina Pats played three games in five nights to heat up their rivalry last week.

With the Pats winning the last two of those meetings, they Memorial Cup hosts were brimming with confidence. The Warriors responded Saturday with a 3-2 home win in front of 4,701 fans at Mosaic Place and capped the season series by winning six of their eight meetings against the Pats.

“The games last week we weren’t 100 per cent healthy, we didn’t have everyone in the lineup. We know that if we play our game and we play a little harder at the right times against that team and we have everyone in the lineup we’ll beat them. That’s why we’re 20 points ahead of them in the standings,” said Warriors head coach Tim Hunter.

“They were talking about how confident they are that they can beat us. We weren’t healthy. We were banged up and didn’t have everyone in our lineup and they were healthy. So I don’t know where the confidence comes from.”

Those are strong words from Hunter, but clearly he believes in his team and believes that they have the talent to beat Regina should they meet in the playoffs.

“No question. We’re a better team. That’s why we’re 20 points ahead of them,” Hunter said when asked if he felt good about a potential playoff match-up against the Pats. “It’s a long season. There’s a lot that goes on. They cobbled their team together, trying to get guys to comply and be good teammates over there — if you read what (Pats head coach and general manager) John (Paddock) says. Our team has been together for a long time. These guys grew up together and they’re a very close team.

“I don’t care who we see in the playoffs. We’re going to compete in the playoffs and win in the playoffs because we’re a good team.”

The Warriors’ 45th win of the season tied the franchise record set in 2011-12 and they moved into a two-point lead for first place in the East Division and continue to have two games in hand on the second-place Swift Current Broncos.

The Pats came back from 4-0 down to beat Saskatoon 7-5 Friday, but they spotted the Warriors a 3-0 lead and weren’t able to complete the comeback despite a strong late push.

Moose Jaw’s Tristan Langan opened the scoring after creating a turnover with a hit. Justin Almeida scored a power play goal late in the first period and Jayden Halbgewachs scored his 58th of the season after taking a great feed from Brett Howden.

Jesse Gabrielle got the Pats on the board later in the second after he took a 10-minute misconduct penalty after going after Warriors defenceman Josh Brook who laid him out early in the second period.

Jesse Gabrielle

“I like the way we started. We came out hard and that’s how you set the tone for the whole game,” Brook said. “We keep getting out-shot. We can’t have that. We have to start taking over games (late) and having three or four minutes in their end and just working them and wearing them down. We aren’t having that yet and that’s something I think we need to work on.”

Robbie Holmes scored for Regina with 12:32 left in the third to set up a tense finish.

“We’ve always had great starts and I think in 20 of our 59 games before tonight we’ve been out-scored in the third period,” Hunter said. “I don’t know what other team’s stats are, but it’s not a good stat for me that you get out-scored (in the third) in games you win as well. We have to clean that up. It’s a focus and concentration thing.”

The Warriors were missing defenceman Dmitri Zaitsev due to illness, while Jett Woo served the second game of his three-game suspension. The Warriors recalled 15-year-old Daemon Hunt for the weekend, but lost Kale Clague late in the second period and largely leaned on four defencemen for the third period.

“We had a lot of D out tonight, so it was a grind, but I was glad we pulled it out,” Brook said. “They still out-shot us. We still gave them too many chances, but (goalie Brody Willms) stood on his head for us.”

Willms made 28 saves in the win.

Hunter said Clague will be day-to-day and he’ll be re-evaluated Sunday morning before the Warriors face the Saskatoon Blades.

Regina’s Jake Leschyshyn appeared to take a puck in the mouth and went to the locker room, but returned wearing a full face shield.