Moose Jaw, SK — The Moose Jaw Warriors had the Hangar rocking on Friday night.
The Warriors opened the second half of the Western Hockey League’s regular season with a 5-2 win over the visiting Regina Pats at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“I thought we came out, played real well, I thought we looked sharp and real crisp right off the bat,” Warriors associate coach Scott King said.
The win improved the Warriors’ record to 19-14-0-2 this season and keeps them in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Brayden Schuurman led the charge with two goals, while Atley Calvert finished with a goal and three points, and Jagger Firkus chipped in with three assists.
Warriors goalie Jackson Unger was key in the victory, turning away 47 of 49 shots on the night.
“He gave us confidence, he just looked real calm and solid tonight and we when he’s playing like that, it just feeds a lot of energy to the bench, so good for him, he carried us a bit tonight,” King said.
Warriors forward Ethan Semeniuk said Unger kept them in the game during stretches of the game.
“It was incredible,” he said. “He made five highlight reel saves, so you want to play for the goalie and you want to win for him and it gives you a little extra motivation and turns momentum in our favour when he does that.”
Fresh off a 13-day break, the Warriors received just the start that they needed when Kalem Parker scored only 52 seconds into the game.
The score stayed that way for the rest of the first period as Unger made 21 saves in the frame, including a few massive stops on a four-minute power play for Regina.
“Really Regina could of scored two, if not three goals, on that [four-minute] power play [in the first period], he made a couple of post-to-post saves that were incredible,” King said.
In the second, Calvert extended the Warriors lead with his 21st of the season just 5:44 into the period.
Schuurman’s eighth of the season came on the power play midway through the second and made it 3-0 for the Warriors.
Regina pushed back early in the third with a goal from Zane Rowan just 2:25 into the final frame.
The Pats cut the lead down to one with Borya Valis’ goal just past the midway point of the period, but the Warriors sealed the win with two goals in 39 seconds.
First, Semeniuk finished off a great passing play for his fifth and then Schuurman followed it up with his second of the night, and ninth of the season, to finish off the win.
“We played well when it matter and obviously we came out with the win, so can’t ask for much more,” Semeniuk said. ”
The Warriors went 1-for-5 on the power play and finished 3-for-4 on the penalty kill on the night.
Regina outshot Moose Jaw 49-42.
The Warriors will return to the ice on Saturday in Prince Albert to close out the 2023 portion of their schedule. They open 2024 in Regina on New Year’s Day Monday.
The next home action for the Warriors comes on Friday, Jan. 5 against the Raiders.