Marc Smith/MJ Warriors

Brayden Yager and Jackson Unger are well on their way to hearing their names called in the 2023 NHL Draft.

The Moose Jaw Warriors’ duo cracked NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings, released on Friday.

Yager comes in ranked fifth among North American skaters after originally earning an ‘A’ rating in the preliminary rankings earlier this season.

Red Deer, AB — Two of the top-four teams in the Eastern Conference went toe-to-toe over 65-plus minutes of hockey on Wednesday.

The Warriors lost a tight 4-3 game in a shootout to the Red Deer Rebels at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

“You had to earn every inch out there tonight, it was take checking and both goalies played really well,” Warriors assistant coach Scott King said.

“Both teams had looks in the three-on-three to win it, it was a back-and-forth game, but it was a hard-fought game for sure.”

Edmonton, AB — The start to the Moose Jaw Warriors’ two-game road trip to Alberta didn’t go as planned.

Moose Jaw lost 3-2 to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Tuesday night to kick-off its stretch of four games in five nights.

“[Frustrating] is a very good way to describe [the game],” Warriors assistant coach Gord Burnett said after the loss.

“Edmonton might not have many wins, but they work hard and they’re a young group that’s trying to get better and you’ve got to show up every night and against every team in this league.”

The Moose Jaw Warriors once again rose to the occasion against one of the top teams in Canada.

Moose Jaw handed the top ranked Seattle Thunderbirds a 6-2 loss at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Saturday night.

“When you’re playing good teams, you have to be at your best and we certainly were,” Warriors assistant coach Scott King said. “We played three really solid periods.”

Coming off a tough shootout loss against Calgary on Friday, the Warriors bounced back in a big way, striking for four goals in the first period and rolling from there.

Connor Ungar made 43 saves, plus three more in the shootout, but it wasn’t enough on Friday night.

The Warriors lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Calgary Hitmen in a back-and-forth, playoff type game at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

“Both teams were playing hard, it was a big game for the standings and it could have went either way,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said.

The loss puts the Warriors just one point ahead of the Hitmen for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Moose Jaw Warriors went into Lethbridge and came away with a hard-fought two points.

The Warriors scored four straight goals in the first and second periods to skate to a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes.

“I like the fact that we stuck with it tonight, it’s a tough building to play in, that’s a good, heavy team, so we knew we had to match their physicality and we did that,” Warriors assistant coach Scott King said.

The Moose Jaw Warriors did something on Wednesday night that no other team in the Western Hockey League has done, beat the Winnipeg ICE for a second time.

The Warriors kicked off the second half of the season with a 3-1 win over Winnipeg at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

“It’s two very skilled teams going at it, Winnipeg is a good team, they’re number one for a reason, so we want to beat them, prove them wrong a little bit, so we came out flying,” Warriors forward Ryder Korczak said after the game.

For the second straight year, the Moose Jaw Warriors will have two players taking part in the Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

Brayden Yager and Jackson Unger were among the 40 players named by the Canadian Hockey League to the annual showcase of draft-eligible prospects on Monday.

The Moose Jaw Warriors returned to the Hangar with a bang on Friday night.

The Warriors scored six goals in the second period and rolled to a 9-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen in their first game in downtown Moose Jaw in three weeks.

“That was the structure that we wanted to play, there was still a couple of mistakes, but we played the right way, we were hungry on pucks, we were around the net, so we played a really good hockey game tonight,” Warriors forward Martin Rysavy said.

After 14 days and thousands of kilometres, the Moose Jaw Warriors ran out of gas in the finale of their seven-game road trip.

The Warriors dropped a 5-3 game to the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd at Scotiabank Saddledome.

“I don’t want to use an excuse, but that was a quick turnaround,” Warriors assistant coach Scott King said.

Moose Jaw knocked off the Red Deer Rebels in a hard fought game on Saturday night and then were back on the ice to end their road trip in Calgary less than 24 hours later.