Blades’ sheriff Calvert hauls in Warriors’ Wutzke

Saskatoon sinks Moose Jaw 5-2

Chase Wutzke, left, battles Rowan Calvert for the puck.

Rowan Calvert played the role of sheriff when Chase Wutzke tried to get away with grand larceny.

In a WHL regular season clash on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, Wutzke, who is the star 19-year-old netminder for the Moose Jaw Warriors, looked for the longest time that he could potentially steal win despite his team being badly outplayed by the host Saskatoon Blades. Ultimately, Wutzke was handcuffed by Calvert, who is the Blades standout 20-year-old left-winger.

Calvert scored the Blades first goal, and with his side holding a slim 3-2 lead entering the third period, the long time WHL veteran closed out the contest completing a hat trick performance to give the Blades a 5-2 victory before a happy gathering of 4,843 spectators. He also now has exactly 30 goals on the campaign marking the first time he has hit the 30-goal plateau in his WHL career.

Chase Wutzke makes one of his 43 saves on Friday.

Wutzke deserved a better fate than being on the wrong end of the scoreboard, as he turned away 43-of-47 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors.

The win was the second straight for the Blades who improved to 32-25-4-2 as they continue to build towards playing in the WHL Playoffs sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference. The Warriors fell to 21-34-5-2 to remain ninth in the Eastern Conference just, one standings point behind the Red Deer Rebels (23-34-2-2) for eighth place and the final post-season berth in the Conference. Red Deer has one game in hand on Moose Jaw.

The Blades stormed out of the gates in the first period holding a 20-3 edge in shots on goal. They exited the opening 20 minutes only holding a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal coming from Calvert.

Rowan Calvert had a hat trick to power the Blades to victory.

Calvert was working in his office right in front of the Moose Jaw net banging home a loose puck for his 28^th tally of the campaign. At the time of that tally, the Blades were holding a 7-1 edge in shots on goal.

While Wutzke was holding the fort in the opening frame making 19 saves for the visitors, Blades star netminder Evan Gardner, who turned 20-years-old in late January, had to come up with a big stop at the end of the stanza. With 47.3 seconds remaining in the first, Gardner swallowed up a close in chance from Warriors import left-winger Jan Trefny.

Rowan Calvert (#23) celebrates the first of his three goals.

At the 5:05 mark of the second, the Blades pushed their lead out to 2-0 when star sophomore centre Cooper Williams burst up the middle of the Moose Jaw zone in through traffic, got in a lone and roofed home a backhand shot for his 21^st goal of the campaign.

Just 39 seconds later, the Warriors 20-year-old star defenceman Aiden Ziprick fired home a point shot for a power-play goal that cut the Saskatoon lead to 2-1.

At that point, Wutzke was the main reason the contest didn’t get away from Moose Jaw. He would turn away Blades star import right-winger David Lewandowski, who was in alone on the Warriors net and attempted a backhand shot.

Wutzke would then stone Blades 18-year-old centre Kazden Mathies in close and reject Blades 17-year-old rookie centre Ben Bowtell on another in tight opportunity. Mathies would then get a breakaway opportunity only to be denied by a left pad stop by Wutzke.

Chase Wutzke (#35) stones David Lewandowski.

With 1:46 remaining in the second, the host side would break onto the scoreboard again. Blades 19-year-old import left-winger Elias Pul cut across the face of the Moose Jaw net and popped home a backhander for his 10^th goal of the campaign to push the Blades lead out to 3-1.

That two-goal edge didn’t last long. Just 42 seconds later, Warriors standout 20-year-old left-winger Pavel McKenzie was sprung on a breakaway and he fired a mid-height shot stick side on Gardner to trim the Saskatoon edge to 3-2. That tally was the 17^th marker of the season for McKenzie.

The Blades took that slim 3-2 advantage into the second intermission while holding a lopsided 35-10 edge in shots on goal.

Cooper Williams had the Blades second goal on Friday.

At the start of the third, Wutzke proceeded to come up with big saves on Blades rookie import left-winger Dustin Willhoft and Bowtell.

Saskatoon then proceeded to get the dagger tallies to lock down the win. With 2:59 remaining in the third and working on a power play, Williams had the puck in the right faceoff circle in the Moose Jaw zone and put a shot pass towards the Warriors goal. Calvert deflected the puck home for his second goal of the contest and 29^th marker of the campaign.

Just 23 seconds later, Calvert completed his hat trick firing a puck from his own zone into an empty Moose Jaw net for his 30^th goal of the season to round out the 5-2 victory for the Blades. Calvert finished with nine goals in the Blades six encounters with the Warriors in the current regular season, and that included Friday’s hat trick performance and a hat trick in a win back in December.

The Blades celebrate a hat trick goal from Rowan Calvert (#23).

Gardner stopped 14 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. The victory was the 24^th of the season for Gardner, which is a new career high in that department.

McKenzie had an assist to go along with his goal.

With his hat trick, Calvert now has goals and points in three consecutive games recording five goals and one assist over that time.

The only bad news the Blade encountered came shortly after they went ahead 4-2, when 18-year-old sophomore defenceman Isaac Poll tried to check McKenzie into the boards, when McKenzie was rushing into the Saskatoon zone. While pinning McKenzie into the boards, Poll accidently drove his own head into the glass and went down on the ice.

Poll, who has a lengthy history with injuries, was helped off the ice and didn’t return.

The Warriors get back at it on Saturday when they return home to face the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., Temple Gardens Centre).

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday night.

The Blades are off until this coming Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

“The Bridge City Bunch” will be looking to build off of strong performances in their past two outings as they only have five more regular season games remaining before entering the 2026 WHL Playoffs.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Unger steals Warriors spot in Memorial Cup semifinal

Netminder stops 49 shots in win over Voltigeurs

Jackson Unger was a wall in goal for the Warriors on Tuesday.

Jackson Unger made a statement that he is a championship caliber goalie.

While the Moose Jaw Warriors and their fans know how good their third-year puck stopper is, Unger turned in a masterful performance in his club’s final round robin game of the Memorial Cup tournament, which crowns a CHL champion. With his play in that final round robin game, Unger showed a national audience on TSN just how good he can be.

On Tuesday playing before 4,444 spectators at the DOW Event Centre in Saginaw, Michigan, the Warriors, who are the champions of the WHL, faced the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who are the champions of the QMJHL, in a contest where the winner advanced to the tournament’s semifinal. The losing squad would be eliminated from the event.

Unger stopped an incredible 49 shots including making 25 saves in the third period to backstop the Warriors to a 5-3 victory. With the win, the Warriors, who are 1-2 in the tournament, advance to Friday’s semifinal contest (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

They will face the squad that falls in the tournament’s final round robin game to be played on Wednesday between the OHL champion London Knights and the host squad in the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). Both the Knights and Spirit have 2-0 records. The winner of that clash advances to the event’s championship game set for Sunday (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

The Voltigeurs closed out play at the Memorial Cup with an 0-3 record after their loss to Moose Jaw.

For his effort in the Warriors win on Tuesday, Unger was named the player of the game.

“Throughout the game, you get in a groove,” said Unger in a post-game scrum. “Seeing how many shots, even past like a 25-shot mark, you just know your game, and you feel good in the crease.”

During the regular season, Unger, who turned 19-years-old in January, appeared in 54 games for the Warriors posting a 35-15-2 record, a 3.08 goals against average, a .908 save percentage and three shutouts. He led the WHL in goaltending wins and was second in minutes played (3,133) and third in shots faced (1,754).

In the WHL Playoffs, Unger appeared in all 20 games the Warriors played posting a 16-3 record, a 2.90 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.

“Sometimes, the more workload he (Unger) gets the better he gets,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary in a post-game scrum. “That’s just competitiveness.

Denton Mateychuk had one goal and two assists on Tuesday.

“Tonight, we certainly needed him, over 50 shots, whatever it was. If anybody wants to talk fatigue, it’s Jackson Unger. He’s played a lot of hockey games this year and saw a lot of pucks, but he found another gear when it got hard, and (I’m) just real proud of the effort.”

For a moment, it appeared the Warriors wouldn’t necessarily need a super-human effort from Unger. The Warriors got the only goal in a fairly evenly played first period, when import defenceman Vojtech Port completed a tick-tack-toe passing play firing home a shot from a sharp angle from the left side of the Drummondville net at the 13:04 mark of the frame.

Warriors star 20-year-old right-winger Atley Calvert and clutch 17-year-old left-winger Lynden Lakovic picked up assists on that play.

When the opening 20 minutes came to a close, the Warriors held a 1-0 lead, while the Voltigeurs held a slim 11-9 edge in shots on goal.

At the 5:10 mark of the second, Warriors star right-winger and the WHL’s player of the year award winner Jagger Firkus blasted home a power-play goal from the left side of the Drummondville net to put the WHL champs up 2-0. Firkus one-timed a beauty cross-ice pass from Warriors star centre Brayden Yager for the power-play marker.

Warriors captain and star offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk would net his third goal of the tournament at the 12:43 mark of the second to push the Warriors advantage out to 3-0. Mateychuk found a loose puck at the left side of the Drummondville net and potted it past fallen Voltigeurs netminder Riley Mercer to give Moose Jaw a three-goal edge.

At that point, the Voltigeurs came with a monster push back. With 5:14 remaining in the second, 19-year-old right-winger Justin Cote one-timed home a goal from the right wing for the Voltigeurs to trim the Warriors lead to 3-1. Cote converted a sweet cross-ice pass from Voltigeurs captain Luke Woodworth.

Just 57 seconds after that tally, Cote picked up an assist when Voltigeurs star import centre Peter Repcik ripped home a shot from the left wing to further cut the Warriors lead to 3-2.

The Voltigeurs evened the score at 3-3 at the 3:13 mark of the third, when left-winger Alexis Gendron snapped home a midrange shot from the front of the Moose Jaw net.

With the QMJHL champs having pulled even on the scoreboard, they poured on the pressure searching for the go-ahead goal. Unger kept them at bay.

The situation looked like it could really go downhill for the Warriors, when Firkus was sent to the penalty box for a roughing minor with 3:23 remaining in the third.

Jagger Firkus scored the Warriors second goal on Tuesday.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Warriors would make the plays to take the contest. Near the tail end of the minor to Firkus, the Warriors got the puck into the Drummondville zone.

Mateychuk had the puck near right-wing boards and put a pass to 18-year-old sophomore defenceman Aiden Ziprick at the point facing straight out from the centre of the Drummondville net. Ziprick, wired home a short-handed goal to the right side of the Drummondville net with 94 seconds remaining in the third to put the Warriors up 4-3.

Yager sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 9.3 seconds remaining in the third to round out the 5-3 final in favour of the Warriors.

Mercer turned away 23-of-27 shots fired his way to take the setback in net for the Voltigeurs.

Mateychuk finished the contest recording one goal, two assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department for the Warriors. Yager completed the game recording one goal, two assists and a plus-one rating for Moose Jaw.

The Voltigeurs finished second overall in the QMJHL in the regular season with a 48-14-5-1 mark and were rated eighth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. They marched through the QMJHL Playoffs with a 16-3 record.

The Warriors placed fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark. They marched through the WHL Playoffs with a 16-4 mark.

Ziprick’s winner was just his second career goal in the major junior ranks including play in the WHL regular season, the WHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament. Both his goals have been game-winners, but his tally on Tuesday was more meaningful as his previous winner came in the regular season. His winner on Tuesday also delivered the Warriors their first win at the Memorial Cup tournament in franchise history.

“It’s pretty special,” said Ziprick in a post-game scrum. “It’s a big tournament right now.

“Close game, and we needed a goal. So to get one for the guys is just huge for me. I’ll definitely remember that for the rest of my life.”

Tuesday’s victory marked the third time in the 2024 post-season the Warriors have won an elimination game. Ziprick loves the resiliency of his club.

“The whole year, when we’re against the wall, we know that’s when we’re at our best,” said Ziprick. “So I think tonight we just showed up.

Brayden Yager had one goal and two assists on Tuesday.

“We don’t want to go home yet, and we’re still here for the win.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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