Saginaw, Mich. – The wait is over for the Moose Jaw Warriors as the organization will finally play their first game at the 2024 Memorial Cup, presented by Down, on Friday night.
The Warriors will hit the Dow Event Center to take on the host Saginaw Spirit in the opening game of the Canadian Hockey League championship.
“It’s going to be electric in the building, we understand that,” Warriors forward Jagger Firkus said. “It’s everyone’s first Memorial Cup for us, it’s going to be a crazy atmosphere in there and we’re just looking forward to it.”
Moose Jaw has been off since last Wednesday when they finished off the sweep of the Portland Winterhawks to capture the team’s first Ed Chynoweth Cup.
While it’s the longest stretch between games in a while for the Warriors, the Spirit haven’t seen game action in 19 days after falling to the London Knights in the OHL’s Western Conference Final.
The Memorial Cup is a different experience than a seven-game playoff series with a different opponent every game.
Warriors forward Matthew Savoie said the team will have to adapt on the fly.
“Every team plays such a different style that you have to be able to change your game just by looking at video and reading off a couple of their systems,” he said. “Our group did a good job of that in the playoffs, switching series, being able to turn the page quick after games.”
Firkus said the Warriors will find success if they can focus on themselves.
“We just need to play our game, we can’t really worry too much about that and focus on what we can do,” he said.
There’s a lot happening around the tournament with festivities outside the arena and away from the game, but Savoie said the Warriors have come to Saginaw with one goal in mind.
“For our group, the main priority, the only focus is winning,” he said. “We’re a really driven group, we want to play for each other, nobody wants to let each other down, so every single game we’ll have our best effort and really go for it.”
The Warriors and Spirit hit the ice at 5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time on Friday night to open up the 2024 Memorial Cup. Tune into the action on TSN and hear Voice of the Warriors James Gallo on Country 100, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 5:10 p.m.