Thud! – Warriors fall 7-1 to Spirit in Memorial Cup semifinal

Atley Calvert’s major junior career came to an end on Friday.

The Moose Jaw Warriors dreams of a Memorial Cup title crashed and burned.

On Friday night at the DOW Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan, the WHL champion Warriors faced the host Spirit from the OHL in the semifinal game of the Memorial Cup tournament. The two sides opened the event in a round robin clash on May 24 that saw the Spirit take a 4-0 lead and hold on for a 5-4 victory.

The semifinal meeting didn’t have the same drama between the two sides who were making their respective first appearances at the Memorial Cup tournament. The Warriors and Spirit exited the first period locked in a 1-1 tie.

The Spirit erupted for five goals in the second period to take a 6-1 lead. They added one more goal in the third to round out a 7-1 victory to the delight of most of the 4,978 spectators in attendance outside of a healthy contingent of Warriors supporters.

With the win, the Spirit improve their tournament record to 3-1, and they advance to face the OHL champion London Knights in the Memorial Cup championship game on Sunday (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). The Knights are 3-0 at the tournament and have won their last eight straight games including the finish of their run in the OHL Playoffs.

The Knights downed the Spirit 4-2 in the tournament’s final round robin game on Wednesday and took the OHL’s Western Conference Championship Series against the Spirit in six games. London’s losses to Saginaw in that series have been their only two setbacks in the 2024 post-season. The Knights are searching for their third Memorial Cup championship in team history having claimed the CHL title in 2005 and 2016.

The Warriors closed out play at the Memorial Cup tournament with a 1-3 record. Their previous two setbacks at the event were both by one goal.

The drought for the WHL as a league at the Memorial Cup continued to grow as the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014 stand as the last team from the circuit to claim the CHL title.

Lucas Brenton had a goal taken away by video review.

In Friday’s loss against Saginaw, the Warriors might have been stunned by the fact that the Spirit’s fourth line including centre Ethan Hay, right-winger Lincoln Moore and left-winger Sebastien Gervais powered their side’s victory with four goals. Hay had two goals and two assists, and both Moore and Gervais each finished with one goal and two assists. All three players were a plus-four in the plus-minus department.

Hay, Moore and Gervais were all pointless in Saginaw’s first three games at the Memorial Cup.

Spirit import star offensive-defenceman Rodwin Dionicio, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Anaheim Ducks, also had a big night on Friday recording one goal, three assists and a plus-five rating.

The Spirit fourth line got things going scoring the first goal of the semifinal just 3:03 in the opening frame. Gervais and Moore were battling for the puck in the left corner of the Moose Jaw zone against a Warriors import defenceman Vojtech Port.

Gervais came up with the puck and passed it into the left slot of Hay. Hay one-timed a blast home to give the Spirit a 1-0 lead on the host side’s fourth shot on goal of the contest.

The Warriors did put up a fight in the opening 20 minutes. Just 75 seconds after Hay’s goal, Warriors overage defenceman Lucas Brenton got alone in front of the Saginaw got and pushed what appeared to be the equalizer into the Spirit net.

The Spirit coaching staff challenged for goaltender interference. The officials ruled there was incidental contact goaltender interference as Brenton pushed the left leg of Spirit netminder Andrew Oke into the net, when the puck was frozen under Oke’s appendage.

Moose Jaw wasn’t deterred. At the 7:08 mark of the opening frame, Warriors star right-winger Jagger Firkus sped down the left wing into the Saginaw zone on a two-on-one break. Firkus kept the puck, drove in on net and put a backhand shot home to even the score at 1-1.

Matthew Savoie was robbed of a sure goal early in the second.

After 20 minutes, the two squads were locked in a 1-1 draw, while the Spirit had a 9-6 edge in shots on goal.

Just 48 seconds into the second, the Warriors had a glorious chance to go ahead on the scoreboard. Firkus had the puck on the right faceoff dot and he put a pass across to the left slot to star centre Matthew Savoie. Savoie put a shot on net only to be denied by a sprawling right pad save by Oke.

A short time later at the 1:53 mark of the second, Spirit captain and defensive-defenceman Braden Hache roofed a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Moose Jaw zone to the top left corner of the Moose Jaw net to put the Spirit up 2-1.

Just under two minutes later on an offensive rush into the Moose Jaw zone, Spirit star centre Owen Beck got the puck in the right slot and roofed a shot to the top left corner of the Warriors net to push the host side’s lead out to 3-1.

Shortly after the Spirit went ahead by two goals, the Warriors almost had a traction moment. Warriors veteran centre Brayden Schuurman hit the post of the Saginaw net with a tough angle shot from the right side of the goal.

At that point, things went downhill for the Warriors as the Spirit’s fourth line scored the next three straight goals to give Saginaw a 6-1 advantage heading into the second intermission.

The surge started at the 9:05 mark of the second with Hay holding the puck at the right point. Hay passed the puck to Moore by the low left boards on the Moose Jaw zone. From that bad angle, Moore one-timed home a shot to put the Spirit up 4-1.

With each Spirit goal at that point, more and more energy seemed the leave the legs of the Warriors players. Hay added his second of the contest at the 11:22 mark of the second and Gervais completed the surge with a tally at the 14:24 mark of the frame.

Jagger Firkus had the Warriors lone goal on Friday.

The only bump the Spirit faced came inside the final five minutes of the second when Oke had to leave the Saginaw net for 89 seconds to have an equipment problem fixed. 

Backup netminder Nolan Lalonde stopped the only shot he faced in his cameo appearance before Oke returned.

Dionicio concluded the game’s scoring with a single 70 seconds into the third period to round out the 7-1 score in Saginaw’s favour.

Oke stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Spirit. Star netminder Jackson Unger turned away 30 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors.

Warriors overage players in star right-winger Atley Calvert, Brenton and standout import left-winger Martin Rysavy all exhausted their major junior eligibility with Friday’s loss.

The Spirit finished second overall in the OHL regular season standings with a 50-16-1-1 record, and they were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the grand scheme of things, it comes as little surprise that they would face the Knights in the Memorial Cup title game.

The Knights topped the OHL regular season standings with a 50-14-1-3 record and were ranked second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark and improved steadily as the campaign motored on. They marched through the WHL Playoffs with a 16-4 record to capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions for the first time in team history.

Brayden Schuurman had bad luck in hitting a post.

When the sting of the lopsided semifinal game loss at the Memorial Cup tournament subsides, the Warriors 2023-24 campaign will be remembered for the WHL title win. In the immediate aftermath, there is disbelief that a special season had to end with a thud.

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