Moose Jaw advances with 6-3 victory in Game
5
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| Jagger Firkus had two goals and an assist for the Warriors on Friday. |
On Friday, the Warriors downed the visiting Saskatoon Blades 6-3 in Game 5 of a WHL first round playoff series between the two sides played before 3,364 pumped up spectators at Mosaic Place. The victory allowed the Warriors to claim the best-of-seven series against the Blades 4-1.
The Warriors now wait to see who they will play in an Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Back in the days when the Warriors skated in their old long time the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was also known as “The Crushed Can,” a Friday night series win would have had the locals in Moose Jaw scurrying off to the Rocking Royal bar located in the Royal Hotel to celebrate the victory well into the early hours of the next morning.
Both the Civic Centre and the Royal Hotel have long been demolished, but locals can still enjoy Friday’s victory moment in pubs that are in walking distance of the Warriors current downtown rink home.
While the Warriors took the series-clinching contest against the Blades by a comfortable margin on the scoreboard, the Game 5 clash between the two sides was an intense one that had a bit of a rivalry feel to it.
The Warriors came flying out of the gate to start Friday’s game. At the 5:55 mark of the opening frame, Warriors star centre Brayden Yager centred the puck from behind the Saskatoon goal to star right-winger Jagger Firkus, and Firkus blasted home the game’s first goal to give the host side a 1-0 edge.
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| Denton Mateychuk had the Warriors second goal in Game 5. |
Before the
opening frame drew to a close, the Blades got a traction moment to get back
into the game. While working on the power play, Blades standout left-winger
Brandon Lisowsky fired a shot that was deflected by star centre Josh Pillar and
then was accidently knocked into the Moose Jaw net by the hand of Warriors
left-winger Calder Anderson.
Pillar
ultimately got credit for the goal that cut the Warriors lead to 2-1 with 5:58
remaining in the first.
The
Warriors restored their two-goal advantage at the 8:52 mark of the second.
Mateychuk fired a shot from the point that rebounded out to Firkus at the left
side of the Saskatoon goal. Firkus slipped in his second marker to increase the
Warriors edge to 3-1.
The rivalry
showed up 40 seconds after Firkus’s second tally of the contest as Blades
left-winger Josh Paulhus engaged Warriors import left-winger Robert Baco in a fight.
With seven
minutes remaining in the second, the Blades were buzzing in the Warriors zone.
Blades import left-winger Egor Sidorov made a backhanded pass to Pillar, who
was positioned for a midrange shot straight out from the left post of the Moose
Jaw goal.
Pillar
blasted a shot through a screen for his second marker of the contest that cut
the Warriors lead to 3-2.
Tristen Robins had an assist for the Blades on Friday.
At the
start of the third, the Blades found themselves on the penalty kill. During
that kill, they had a huge chance to score the equalizer as centre Trevor Wong
found himself on a short-handed breakaway, but he was stoned trying to shoot
the puck between the legs of Warriors overage star netminder Carl Tetachuk.
Moose Jaw
then got a goal from rookie right-winger Thomas Tien, who was skating in his
first WHL playoff game. Tien corralled a long flip pass to get sprung into the
Saskatoon zone on a breakaway.
He snapped
home his first career WHL post-season goal at the 5:26 mark of the third to
restore the Warriors two-goal edge at 4-2.
Again, the
Blades wouldn’t back down. With 7:13 remaining in the third, Blades
right-winger Noah Boyko had the puck in the left corner of the Moose Jaw zone.
He centred the puck to Wong, who blasted home his first of the post-season to
cut the Warriors lead to 4-3.
With 3:38
remaining in the third, the Warriors finally got the dagger goal that put the
game away, when centre Atley Calvert knocked home his second of the playoffs
from the front of the Saskatoon goal after collecting the rebound from a point
shot taken by Mateychuk.
Baco
rounded out the 6-3 final scoring a long range empty-net goal for the Warriors
from his own blue-line with 1:51 remaining in the third.
Tempers
proceeded to flare up with the issue decided on the scoreboard as a scrum broke
out with a minute remaining in the third. Out of that scrum, Wiens and Tien
engaged in a fight.
Robert Baco scored a long range empty-net goal for the Warriors.
Inside of
the final seven seconds of the third, the officials gave Blades overage
defenceman Rhett Rhinehart a 10-minute misconduct, when he started to get a little
testy on the ice.
Tetachuk
made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors. Blades star overage
netminder Nolan Maier turned away 35-of-40 shots to take the setback in net for
Saskatoon.
The loss brought
an end to the WHL careers of Maier, Rhinehart and Blades overage captain
Tristen Robins, who all age out of the major junior ranks. Robins picked up an
assist in the Game 5 loss on Friday.
During the
regular season, the Warriors collected 81 standings points to finish fourth
overall in the Eastern Conference with a 37-24-4-3 mark. They just edged out
the Blades, who finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with 80 standings
points coming from a 38-26-3-1 record.
Saskatoon had won six of the eight head-to-head meetings in the regular season with Moose Jaw, but that type of result didn’t materialize in the playoffs.
The Warriors seemed to want the post-season series just a touch more than the Blades did, and it was noticeable on the ice.
That little extra jump has the Warriors
advancing onward on the WHL playoff trail.
Nolan Maier made 35 saves for the Blades on Friday.
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