Warriors Win in Shootout
By @MJWarriorsFun (Twitter) @moosejawwarriors_history (Instagram)
Warriors fans were blessed with a Remembrance Day-weekend Home-and-Home series with the lowly Medicine Hat Tigers. The first of which was Friday evening at Co-op Place in the Gas City.
Medicine Hat may have been struggling in the wins column but they definitely ice some of the winningest names in the WHL: Bogdans Hodass and Oasiz Wiesblatt, to be specific.
The Warriors had a productive opening period, scoring two goals and winning a fight.
Harper Lolacher scored his first as a Warrior, re-directing a Max Wanner slap shot in the 4th minute.
Harper Lolacher scored his first goal as a Warrior - photo credit Twitter
Eric Alarie netted his fourth of the season a few minutes later. Tiger goaltender Beckett Langkow made a nice stop on a Brayden Yager shot but Alarie corralled the loose puck as it trickled out behind and put it in the net.
Big Lucas Brenton dropped the mitts with the nearly as big Josh Van Milligan shortly after that. It was a relatively even tilt until the end, when Brenton connected with a pair of solid shots.
The second period wasn’t nearly as good for the Warriors. They coughed up 3 goals; two to Oasiz Wiesblatt and one to Tyler MacKenzie.
Thankfully, mixed in with all that Tiger firepower, Atley Calvert took it upon himself to net one for the good guys, his team leading 9th of the season. The goal came courtesy of a pass from Maximus Wanner, who scored a combined 6 points over the last two games.
Jagger Firkus then tied the scoring race when he sniped one halfway through the third period to put the Warriors out front again but only a minute-and-a-half later the Tigers evened the score again when Bogdans Hodass scored his third of the season.
Jagger Firkus scored his 9th of the year - photo credit Twitter
After a stalemate overtime period the game headed to its ultimate fate: a penalty shootout. Both Yager and Medicine Hat’s Andrew Basha had scored, when Denton Mateychuk was given the opportunity to finish the game.
He very casually deked the proverbial pants off of Beckett Langkow, then strolled back to centre ice to celebrate as if nothing could be more natural.
Denton Mateychuk scored a magnificent penalty shot winner - photo credit Twitter
The game’s three stars were Mateychuk, Wiesblatt and Moose Jaw goalie Connor Ungar.
They’ll be back on the ice on Saturday, November 12th at the Hangar for another crack at Medicine Hat.
Warriors Notes
C Noah Degenstein, from Airdrie, AB made his Warriors debut in this game
Scratches for the game included Riley Niven, Marek Howell, Lynden Lakovic, Martin Rysavy and Ben Riche
Added Note: Congratulations to former Moose Jaw Mavericks product Brooklyn Nimegeers for committing to the Princeton University Tigers female hockey program starting in the 2024 - 2025 season.
You can read about it by clicking here.