PREVIEW: Warriors host Hurricanes to open three-game homestand
The Moose Jaw Warriors return to home ice to face the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night at Mosaic Place.
The Warriors enter the game having won eight straight hockey games after sweeping their two-game road trip to Swift Current and Medicine Hat over the weekend.
With two more wins under their belt, Moose Jaw’s confidence in their play continues to grow.
“It’s unreal, the guys are loving it, so puts a smile on us coming to the rink every day and we’re enjoying it,” Warriors forward Riley Niven said.
The Warriors’ recent success shows the players that the work they’ve put in has helped the team grow this season.
“At the start of the year, we couldn’t really get much going, we were a .500 team, but we’ve done a lot of good things on this run and it’s nice to put a couple of wins together,” Defenceman Max Wanner said.
The grow by the Warriors may have been shown over the weekend when the team saw room for improvement in its game despite coming out with all four points.
“If you’re going to win eight in a row, there’s going to be different ways that you do it, that’s what we saw this weekend when we weren’t at our best, I thought we were good at the right times and something that’s most important,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said after Tuesday’s practice.
“We were resilient, it wasn’t effort, it was just execution, but it didn’t deter us and we stuck with what we could control, that was our effort and our compete.”
“If we just follow our systems, we don’t have to play our best, but we still get the job done,” Niven added.
The Warriors now return home for three games this weekend, starting on Wednesday night when the Lethbridge Hurricanes come to Mosaic Place.
Moose Jaw sits fourth in the Eastern Conference, while Lethbridge sits in a tie with Swift Current for the eighth playoff spot.
“They’re a hard checking team and so we just got to watch out for that, move pucks quick and keep the puck going north,” Wanner said.
O’Leary expects a hungry Hurricanes team to come into Moose Jaw.
“We’re into the second half now and you’re going to be watching the standings, where everybody slots in and Lethbridge has a hungry team,” he said. “They have some older guys that make you work and we’ll have to be ready.”
The Warriors and Hurricanes face-off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Tickets are available at mjwarriors.ca and the Mosaic Place Box Office. This game is Rain Check Night for season ticket holders, which means unused tickets can be redeemed at the box office for tickets to this game, click here for more information.
Tune into all the action on Country 100, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m. or watch on IKS Media Warriors Live at watch.chl.ca with the acton starting with the Mosaic Pre-Game Show at 6:50 p.m.
