Moose Jaw Warriors v Brandon Wheat Kings: Series Breakdown
By Twitter: @MJWarriorsFun
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The last time the Warriors met the Wheat Kings they lost 5-3 - pic via Brandon Wheat Kings Twitter
Your Moose Jaw Warriors might be a pretty exceptional hockey team right now; and they may have just ended the season in the most scintillating of fashions (an 11-1 destruction of the Regina Pats that included a goalie fight).
But it certainly doesn’t make sense to take a first round playoff victory for granted.
The Warriors are set for a best-of-seven series with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Brandon has beaten them four times this season.
One time by a score of 9-4 and another time, in their most recent meeting, just one week ago.
Brandon may have won only 33 games this season, compared to Moose Jaw’s 44, but they’ve shown time and again that they can roll with the Warriors.
Let’s get into a Series Breakdown.
Moose Jaw Warriors vs Brandon Wheat Kings
Carson Bjarnason shutting the door on Lynden Lakovic in their last meeting - pic via Brandon Wheat Kings Twitter
Season Series:
The Warriors and the Wheat Kings split the season series.
The two clubs met eight times in the regular season, each winning four of them.
In those eight games Brandon actually outscored the high-scoring Warriors by a total of 33 goals to 31.
Brandon is not to be taken lightly; the evidence shows they know how to play the Warriors.
Offence:
There is no doubt that the Warriors have the superior fire power.
They scored 297 goals in the regular season, compared to the Wheat Kings’ 225.
The Warriors had five players averaging over a point-per-game (Jagger Firkus, Atley Calvert, Brayden Yager, Matt Savoie and Denton Mateychuk); the Wheaties have zero.
Jagger Firkus led the league in points.
His scoring total alone more than doubled that of Brett Hyland, the Wheat Kings top threat.
Firkus’ goal scoring tally (61) is more impressive considering no single Wheat King even had 60 total points on the season.
Brett Hyland is Brandon’s top scorer - via Brandon Sun Twitter
Brandon’s top scorer was Brett Hyland.
Hyland is one of two Wheat Kings who has been drafted to an NHL team.
He was selected 200th overall by the Washington Capitals in 2023.
He is a two-way player who led the team with 32 goals and 27 assists.
Rylen Roersma and Roger McQueen are both solid, top line scoring threats as well.
Roersma led the team in assists with 38 and McQueen had 51 points.
Those are decent numbers, but not nearly as impressive as the tallies from the Warriors’ second, third, fourth and fifth options. Atley Calvert had 95 points, Brayden Yager 94, Denton Mateychuk had 75 and Matthew Savoie, who split time between Moose Jaw and Wenatchee, accumulated 71 points in only 34 games.
It’s interesting to note that Jagger Firkus won the Bobby Clarke award for being the league leader in points, averaging exactly 2 points-per-game.
Matt Savoie actually averaged more than that (2.08).
Who knows what could have happened had Savoie played an entire season, he could have been up around 150 points at the rate he contributed.
The Warriors are loaded with elite scoring threats - via Twitter
The Wheat Kings’ second line was pretty dependable too.
Between 18 year old Czech import Dominik Petr, Carrot River’s Jayden Wiens and Nolan Flamand, they combined for 132 points.
Those are very similar numbers to what Brayden Schuurman, Martin Rysavy and Lynden Lakovic reached, and two of those guys are gonna have to play on the third line.
The Wheaties’ scoring is dependable.
The Warriors scoring is elite.
Defence:
As wide as the gap is between the two teams in scoring, it may just be the gap between them defensively that becomes the ultimate factor.
Defensively, Brandon was slightly above average, allowing 244 goals, the 11th best in the league.
Moose Jaw finished 8th best, allowing 228 goals.
Luke Shipley and Quinn Mantei, Brandon’s top defenders - via Perry Bergson/Brandon Sun
Luke Shipley and Quinn Mantei are solid leaders but compared to the Warriors’ Denton Mateychuk, Kalem Parker and Lucas Brenton they just don’t stack up.
The Warriors’ defence kept more goals out of their own net and scored more goals in opposition nets.
The Warriors defence plays both ends of the ice better and are far better at creating goals and scoring opportunities.
The longer this series goes the more noticeable that will be.
Goaltending:
Carson Bjarnason, Brandon’s starting goalie, after being drafted by the Flyers in 2023
The one area in which Brandon has the advantage is goaltending…and it’s only a slight advantage.
Carson Bjarnason is the Wheat Kings starter.
He’s really good. Bjarnason was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2023, with the 51st pick.
He is quick and active with a slick glove.
He allowed 3.01 goals per game and had a save percentage of .907, which, combined, were slightly better than Warriors’ starter Jackson Unger’s numbers (3.08, .908); just slightly better.
In Summary:
With seven NHL drafted players, the Moose Jaw Warriors are a far more skilled and impressive team, at both ends of the ice.
The one thing the Wheat Kings have to their advantage is the ability to hang in their and win games, despite the clear differences.
They’ve got a tenacity and are able to reach levels against the Warriors that other teams can’t.
Prediction:
I predict that the Warriors are slow to start and drop one of the first two home games.
But the scoring will get rolling after that and they will win the series when they return home after Game 4.
I figure they don’t take too much stock in the season series and will rise to the challenge and finish the series strong.
Warriors win 4-1. But don’t be surprised if it’s a lot closer than that.
Back-to-Back home games on Friday March 29 and Saturday March 30.
And here is the rest of the Playoff pairings:
Saskatoon v Prince Albert
Medicine Hat v Red Deer
Swift Current v Lethbridge
Moose Jaw v Brandon
Prince George v Spokane
Wenatchee v Kelowna
Portland v Victoria
Everett v Vancouver