PREVIEW | Warriors set to spend weekend in Alberta
Red Deer, AB — The Moose Jaw Warriors will need to become road warriors over the next few weeks.
The Warriors have 19 games remaining in the regular season and 13 of those are on the road, including 10 in the next three weeks.
“We know it’s important that we have to be able to win on the road, especially coming into playoffs, it’s different than playing in your home rink, so we’ve got to be ready for that,” Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said.
Moose Jaw starts the stretch of road games this weekend with a two-game trip to Alberta, starting on Friday night in Red Deer.
Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said building some momentum away from the Hangar is going to be key for the team.
“It’s coming at a good time for us,” he said. “Obviously, we made some moves at the deadline and we have some different faces here, but they’ve done a great job getting together away from the rink and coming together as a team and being on the road will certainly help that as well.”
Since the start of the second half, the Warriors have taken their game to another level with 14 wins in their last 16 games.
O’Leary said he’s been pleased with how the team has been able to find success over the past month.
“We’ve kind of won in different ways, which is a positive,” he said. “In no way are we satisfied with our game, especially last game, but 68 games is a long time, you’re going to have some games that you’re not playing your best, but we’re finding ways to win for sure.”
Friday night will be the final meeting of the season between the Warriors and Rebels. Moose Jaw enters the weekend sitting tied for second in the Eastern Conference with Medicine Hat at 64 points.
The Warriors lead the Rebels by three points and won their meeting last weekend, 6-3, at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Moose Jaw is 2-1 against Red Deer in their season series.
“We know they’re going to come out hard in their home rink, they’ve lost a couple in a row, so we’ve got to be ready for that and bring our ‘A’ game,” Mateychuk said.
The Warriors and Rebels square off at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time on Friday night. After that, the Warriors will head to Calgary to take on the Hitmen on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Saskatchewan time.
