PREVIEW | Warriors return to home to host Hurricanes
Moose Jaw, SK – The Moose Jaw Warriors are back at the Hangar in downtown Moose Jaw on Friday night to battle the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
After spending five games and 11 days on the road through the BC Division, the Warriors were happy to be back in Moose Jaw this week to work on fine tuning their game.
“Definitely excited to play in front of our own fans, it’s been a little while,” Warriors captain Brayden Yager said. “It’s nice to get some good hours in of practice before this weekend.”
The Warriors didn’t have the road trip that they had hoped in BC, finishing with a 1-4 record over the five games.
Head Coach Mark O’Leary said there are good lessons that Moose Jaw can take from that stretch.
“It’s recognizing that we’re in good places, but understanding the importance of the competitive mindset and digging in when you’re in those spots,” he said. “That’s the thing that’s getting in our way right between a win and a loss.”
The Warriors will take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday night at the Hangar.
Lethbridge comes in sitting second in the Eastern Conference and leading the Central Division with a 9-5-1-0 record in 15 games this season.
18-year-old forward Miguel Marques leads the Hurricanes with 23 points, while Logan Wormald leads the team with nine goals so far this season.
O’Leary said Moose Jaw’s willingness to work will be key against Lethbridge.
“They check hard,” he said. “They make things real difficult inside the dots and that’s what the game is, taking pucks from along the boards and trying to get them inside dots and that’s where you’re dangerous and on the flipside, trying to keep them from doing it.”
Yager said the Warriors know competing hard is the key to success for them and it will have to start on Friday night.
“They play hard and it’s just going to be a test for us to come in and play even harder,” he said. “There’s not very many teams that work harder than Lethbridge, so if we can come out and match them, we’ll be heading in the right direction.”
The Warriors and Hurricanes meet at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Click here to purchase tickets to the game.
If you can’t make it out, tune into IKS Media Warriors Live on CHL TV, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:45 p.m. You can also catch all the action with Voice of the Warriors James Gallo on Country 100.
