Tribe Opens Road Trip In Edmonton
The road can sometimes be the best medicine for a hockey team and that’s what the Moose Jaw Warriors are hoping as they set up shop in Alberta for the weekend.
“One of the greatest parts of junior hockey is being on the road with your teammates, you bond and you get to know each other a little bit more than you did before,” said Sam Fioretti, the overage captain of the Warriors. “I think that (this road trip) is going to be huge going forward.”
The tribe will open a three-game Central Division road trip on Thursday night at Rexall Place against the Edmonton Oil Kings. It will be a tough test for a team coming off a rough loss to the last place Lethbridge Hurricanes at home on Tuesday night.
“It was definitely a disappointing loss and definitely taking it personally, but I think there’s a lot we can learn from it,” said Fioretti. “It’s going to be a big three games coming up here.”
The loss to the Hurricanes hurts for the Warriors because it was a game in which they did a lot right and were strong in a lot of areas that they had been struggling in. They got off to a quick start, getting two goals in the first period, but they also gave up two goals in the first. They went to the net hard, but weren’t rewarded for their chances.
On the other hand though there’s a lot to clean up from that game, like the turnovers in the defensive zone, two of which led directly to goals for Lethbridge.
“Its little errors that are costing us, it seems like when we make a turnover that it’s ending up in the back of our net,” said Fioretti. “It’s just an onus on all of us to play a full sixty.”
Unlike the Hurricanes – who snapped a ten-game losing streak with their win over the Warriors – the Oil Kings are playing some of their best hockey of the season right now with a 7-3 record over their last ten games.
They feature a big and physical defensive core, but the Warriors know what they’re getting into going against the likes of Griffin Reinhart and Cody Corbett.
“You’ve got to get pucks in behind them, they like to play physical and if we can take the physical play to them, we can have some success,” explained Fioretti.
With three games in four nights coming up, finding some success in Edmonton will be key for the Warriors heading into the rest of the road trip. “The first game is definitely the most important and we should be ready to go,” added Fioretti.
The Warriors and Oil Kings will hit the ice at Rexall Place on Thursday night at 8:00pm. Voice of the Warriors James Gallo and Warrior alumni Brian Sutherby will have all the action on Country 100, starting with the Pre-game Show at 7:40pm.
Warriors Call-up Prospects… A banged up forward group for the Moose Jaw Warriors will be getting some help as they open up their three-game Alberta road trip. After Jack Rodewald suffered a broken jaw on Tuesday, the tribe decided to call up 2013 fifth overall pick Brett Howden and 16-year-old forward Ethan Lazaro. Howden is second in the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League with 11 goals and 24 points in 13 games for the Eastman Selects. Lazaro is playing with St. Albert in the AMHL and has eight goals and 16 points in 14 games. He’s ninth in the league in scoring.
