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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Warriors fly to new heights, Winterhawks unravel

Moose Jaw leads WHL final 2-0 heading home to “The Hangar”

Atley Calvert and the Warriors lead the WHL final 2-0.

After two games of the WHL Championship Series, it has become clear which team has been more battle tested.

On Saturday in Game 2 of the WHL final, the Moose Jaw Warriors look as composed as football quarterback Tom Brady leading a team down the field on a game winning touchdown drive in the Super Bowl. The Portland Winterhawks came unglued as the game went on and looked like a five-year-old that didn’t get his or her way.

When the dust settled at game’s end, the Warriors skated away with a sound 5-1 victory over the Winterhawks. Most of the 7,361 spectators in attendance at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland exited the rink in somber fashion. Portland was well known throughout the WHL in having one of the best home ice advantages on the circuit in the post-season, and Moose Jaw neutralized that factor.

The Warriors claimed both of the first two games hosted in Portland squeaking out a 3-2 victory in Game 1 on Friday. They lead the best-of seven series 2-0.

To make the situation even tougher for the Winterhawks, they now head in to a buzz saw as the next three games will be held in Moose Jaw at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, which is also known as “The Hangar.”

Game 3 of the series is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m., and Game 4 follows on Wednesday at 8 p.m. If necessary, Game 5 is slated for this coming Friday at 8 p.m.

The Warriors are known for having one of the WHL’s most passionate fanbases. When the franchise left Winnipeg and arrived in Moose Jaw in 1984, the Warriors had only four winning records in their first 16 seasons in “The Friendly City.”

Still, the fans packed the team’s old home rink in the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was best known as “The Crushed Can,” and made the building one of the most raucous on the whole circuit. Opposing teams played against both the Warriors and their fans. The fans created a noise that had a force to it.

In the current day, you can bet those same fans will be out to prove Moose Jaw still has one of the best home ice advantages in the WHL at “The Hangar.” The fact the Warriors lead the WHL final 2-0 and need just two more wins to capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup means the fans in Moose Jaw will be absolutely giddy. They will be ready to create noise and help their team to try and win the series at home on top of capturing a championship the franchise has yet to win.

Jagger Firkus had two goals and an assist for the Warriors.

It would also be the first WHL title win for the city of Moose Jaw since the Moose Jaw Canucks franchise won the league championship the first time it was awarded back in 1967.

The Warriors and Winterhawks entered the WHL Championship Series both possessing great skill. Over the first two games, the Warriors have been a step ahead of the Winterhawks tactically.

Moose Jaw has shown to be battle hardened after winning a thrilling Eastern Conference Championship Series in seven games over the Saskatoon Blades. That series saw six contests finish in overtime and had seemingly endless momentum changes due to adjustments made by players and coaches.

The Warriors players are seemingly in a state where they aren’t going to get derailed by any ups and downs of a game. They are ready to keep battling and keep pushing ahead.

The Winterhawks seemingly haven’t adjusted tactically to what the Warriors have thrown at them. The Warriors have been able to clog up the centre ice zone taking away the Winterhawks speed and have created turnovers and jumped on the counterattack.

Portland’s players seem frustrated that their sheer skill isn’t enough to overcome their foes. As Game 2 went on, it became a more common sight to see Winterhawks players engaging in scrums. They have shown a lack of composure and perseverance.

The Warriors got out to a quick start in Game 2. At the 5:48 mark of the first, the Warriors broke into the Portland zone on a two-on-one rush with 20-year-old right-winger Atley Calvert coming up the left wing with the puck and centre Matthew Savoie coming down the right wing.

Calvert passed the puck over to Savoie, and Savoie dished it back to Calvert, who was staring at an open net. Calvert popped the puck into the empty cage to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.

The Winterhawks came with a push back. With about 9:32 remaining in the first, Winterhawks star right-winger James Stefan got into the Moose Jaw zone on a contested breakaway. He put a backhand shot on goal that was turned away by Warriors star netminder Jackson Unger.

Brayden Yager scored the Warriors third goal on Saturday.

When the opening frame ended, the Warriors held a 1-0 edge on the scoreboard, and the Winterhawks had an 11-8 edge in shots on goal. The host side started to sink in quicksand in the second frame.

Just before the midway point of the second, Warriors overage import right-winger Martin Rysavy broke into the Portland zone down the right wing. He passed to the puck to 18-year-old left-winger Pavel McKenzie, who was positioned in front of the net.

McKenzie did a half toe drag and snapped a shot home past Winterhawks star import netminder Jan Spunar for his second of the post-season that gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

After falling behind 2-0, the Winterhawks seemingly started getting involved in more scrums. With 3:24 remaining in the second, a rare fight in the WHL Playoffs ensued between Winterhawks star left-winger Josh Davies and Warriors 19-year-old right-winger Rilen Kovacevic.

Just 84 seconds after that fight, two of the Warriors biggest stars made an impact on the contest. Warriors right-winger and WHL player of the year Jagger Firkus sprung Warriors centre and the winner of the WHL’s most sportsmanlike player award Brayden Yager in on a breakaway to the Portland net. Yager fired home a shot to the top right corner of the Winterhawks goal to put the Warriors advantage out to 3-0.

At that point out of nowhere, it appeared the Winterhawks got a traction moment. Warriors captain and the WHL’s defenceman of the year Denton Mateychuk made a rare error.

Mateychuk was playing the puck behind his own net, and he was pressured on the forecheck by Winterhawks standout right-winger Marcus Nguyen. The Warriors blue-liner proceeded to throw a blind backhand pass up centre ice.

Winterhawks star centre Nate Danielson quickly knocked home the errand pass into the Moose Jaw net to trim the Warriors lead to 3-1.

During a stoppage a short time later with 36.7 seconds remaining in the second, Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary called a timeout to get his squad calmed down.

Kalem Parker had an assist on the Warriors fifth goal.

In the third, Firkus ensured there would be no Winterhawks comeback. Just 15 seconds into the frame, Firkus got the puck in the right faceoff circle in the Portland zone and roofed a shot to the top left corner of the Winterhawks net to push the Warriors lead out to 4-1.

Firkus added his second of the night working a give and go with offensive-defenceman Kalem Parker at the 5:35 mark of the third to round out the 5-1 final in favour of the visitors. Firkus entered the Portland zone with the puck and dished it to Parker.

Parker skated the puck below the icing line and passed it back to Firkus, who was positioned on the doorstep at the right side of the Portland net. Firkus popped home his second of the night and 14^th of the post-season to give the Warriors their four-goal edge.

The Winterhawks outshot the Warriors 17-4 in the frame, but the Warriors were focused on shutting things down defensively playing most of the frame with their four-goal lead.

Unger stopped 37 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors. Spunar turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Winterhawks.

During the regular season, the Winterhawks finished third overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 mark and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL regular season with a 44-21-0-3 mark.

The Warriors and Winterhawks met once during the regular season back on February 28. Moose Jaw took that encounter 4-3 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The WHL final between the two sides was expected to be tightly contested, and it still might turn out that way.

In order for that to happen, the Winterhawks need to find some composure and perseverance and make some adjustments. They face a sizable amount of work, if they want the series to return to Portland for a potential Game 6 and possibly a Game 7.

Jackson Unger stopped 37 shots in goal for the Warriors.

At the moment, the Warriors are in the driver’s seat, and they have the inside track when it comes to capturing the WHL title.

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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