PREVIEW | Warriors ready to open Eastern Conference Final in Saskatoon
Saskatoon, SK – The week-long wait is finally over as the 2024 WHL Eastern Conference Championship, presented by Nutrien, will hit the ice on Friday night.
For the first time since 2012, the Moose Jaw Warriors will take part in the conference championship series, battling the Saskatoon Blades for the right to play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
“It’s very exciting, it’s been an exciting week, lots of emotions coming up to it and it’s just an exciting time to be here,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said.
“They’re just down the road, so it’s going to be a fun series, we’ll have some fans in their rink and they’ll have some fans in ours.”
The Warriors advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship for the third time in franchise history after knocking out the Swift Current Broncos in a hard-fought five-game series.
On the other side, Saskatoon swept the Red Deer Rebels in four games to advance to the conference final for the second straight year. The Blades were swept by the Winnipeg ICE last season.
“The guys are ready, they took advantage of a little time off, recharged, refocused and practices have been great this week, just chomping at the bit, looking forward to Saskatoon,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said.
The Warriors and Blades have been on a collision course for a big series like this one over the past few seasons with both teams peaking this season.
Saskatoon finished first in the Eastern Conference, winning the Scotty Munro Trophy as the WHL’s top team, while the Warriors were just behind in second place.
These two sides met in the playoffs two years ago with Moose Jaw winning in five games in the first round match-up.
During the regular season, the Warriors and Blades split their six games, including each side winning during their home-and-home showdown near the end of the regular season.
“It’s what we’ve all been waiting for,” Warriors forward Jagger Firkus said. “We understood that if we wanted to make a run this year that we were going to have to meet Saskatoon eventually because they’re a strong team, they’re a good team that plays very structured and we’ve had a little rivalry for the last couple of years.”
The Warriors come into the series feeling battle tested after the first two rounds, facing off with a tough Brandon team in the first round and then battling a strong Broncos team in the second round.
“The biggest thing is just how important every moment is,” O’Leary said. “You never know when it can be the biggest moment in the game and our guys have shown that they can handle that, they’re prepared.”
In the first two rounds, the Warriors’ high-powered offence was also tested going against two NHL drafted goaltenders, but prevailed with the most goals, 47, through the first two rounds.
“Both goalies we played, those are two of the best goalies in the Western League and it shows that we have the offensive talent to put the puck in the back of the net and we can carry over our regular season success to the playoffs,” Firkus said.
That will be key going up against a stingy Saskatoon defence.
Mateychuk said they know it’s going to be hard to generate offence against the Blades.
“They’re very structured, they’re very well coached and they’re going to be really hard on us on the forecheck, they’re really structurely sound in the neutral zone, defensive zone, so they’re a good test for us,” he said.
“That’s what hockey’s all about, is those tests, so I’m excited for it.”
The Warriors and Blades meet for Game 1 on Friday night at SaskTel Centre. Game 2 will go on Saturday in Saskatoon before the series shifts to Moose Jaw for Games 3 and 4 next week.