PREVIEW | Warriors set for showdown with Cougars on Military Appreciation Night
Moose Jaw, SK — Hockey will be secondary at the Hangar on Saturday night.
The Moose Jaw Warriors will host the annual Military Appreciation Night when the Prince George Cougars come to the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The night will feature local military members from the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Dragoons and Royal Canadian Legion on hand to be honoured for their service.
“It’s great, it brings a little bit of humility and some time to reflect just as a human being,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said.
“Hockey’s great and sometimes we get so wrapped up in the game and what we’re trying to do here, but for a lot of men and women, what they do on a day-to-day basis to help keep us safe and really the sacrifices they make, big picture, it’s a whole lot more important than hockey.”
The Warriors will be wearing special edition military-themed jerseys that will be available through a silent auction with net proceeds going to Support Our Troops.
On the ice, it will be a big game for the Warriors as the team takes on the Western Conference-leading Cougars.
Prince George brings a high-octane offence to Moose Jaw with a league-high 69 goals in 12 games so far this season. The Cougars also feature four of the league’s top-10 scorers.
Warriors defenceman Kalem Parker is familiar with the Cougars after playing the past four seasons in the B.C. Division.
“They’re obviously a super skilled, fast team, they play really fast up and down the ice, they love to score goals too, so we’ve got to try and counter that and play really strong defensively,” he said.
The Warriors are coming off a 4-3 loss in Brandon on Thursday, which saw Moose Jaw dominate the first two periods, but stumble slightly in the third.
O’Leary said there’s lots the Warriors can take from that game to build on.
“When we’re at our best, things start in the offensive zone down below the dots when we have two guys around the puck before they do and we have opportunities to play in the offensive zone for long stretches and I thought we did that against Brandon for the most part,” he said.
“We attacked with pucks and we climbed back above, so we had numbers above and we weren’t giving up anything off the rush.”
O’Leary said that will be key against the Cougars.
“They’re similar in a sense of how Brandon is, we talk about being opportunistic in terms of that fast offence in transition, going back the other way, difference is Prince George scores a lot of goals, they have guys that are natural goal scorers, they don’t need a whole lot of looks to make you pay,” he said.
“Puck management is going to be at the forefront with us through the neutral zone and making sure we have numbers above the puck so we have help coming back.”
The Warriors and Cougars face-off at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Tune into the game on WHL Live and Country 100, starting with the Pre-Game Show on IKS Media Warriors Live at 6:45 p.m. on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
