Tuesday Night Tilt; Warriors v Broncos
It’s been a long time since the Moose Jaw Warriors and Swift Current Broncos faced off with 115 days since their meeting on the season opening weekend.
The two rivals played back-to-back games that weekend with Moose Jaw coming from behind in the season opener for a 4-3 overtime win, while the Broncos got their revenge the next night with a 7-1 win in Swift Current.
Tuesday night’s game will feature two teams heading in opposite direction at the moment as the Warriors are in the midst of a six-game losing streak that has dropped them down to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. The Broncos on the other hand are climbing up the standings, currently in sixth place, thanks to a four-game winning streak.
The Warriors have been off since Friday’s 6-2 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings and that’s given them plenty of time to work out the kinks that led to that rough outing. “Working has been the theme over the past few days at practice, just work, work, work and find ways to score,” said Captain Kendall McFaull.
“We’re working to get out of this, and that’s the only way we can get through it. We know it’s not going to be easy to kick a skid like this, but all you can do is work hard in practice and transfer it over into the game.”
The loss to Brandon was especially frustrating for the tribe as earlier last week; they played such a strong game against the third place Calgary Hitmen. McFaull says the team just got away what makes them successful, “We weren’t physical against Brandon and it seems like any of the games that we have success, which seems to be against the better teams, we’re being physical, taking the pace to them, we’re trying to set the tone, and we need to find a way to do that against all teams.”
Being physical will be key against a big Broncos team, when the two teams last played, the Broncos showed a very physical style to their play, led by captain Adam Lowry, who’s fourth in league scoring with 61 points this season. McFaull says getting physical with Lowry is a good way to get him off his game, “He likes to throw the body around too, but if you’re hitting him back and take away his time and space, it limits what he can do too.”
Outside Lowry, the Broncos present a very tough test for the Warriors as they feature a big veteran lineup. “They’ve got pretty good goaltending, they’ve some top guys, like Lowry, that can find the back of the net, so I think the big thing for us defensively will be to shut them down and then offensively, we’ve got to create more chances,” added McFaull.
The Warriors and Broncos will hit the ice at 7:00pm. Country 100 is your home for all the action, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:40pm.
Valentine Excited About Chance
The Warriors actually found a way to get younger with the recent addition of 16-year-old defenceman Dallas Valentine to the lineup.
Valentine was called up to help with the work load caused by Morgan Rielly heading to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ training camp. That left the tribe with just six defenceman, so Valentine got the call to finish the rest of the season with the big club.
“I didn’t receive the call, my mom did, but when she told me, I was pretty stunned, but pretty excited at the same time,” explained Valentine on Monday after skating with his new team at Mosaic Place.
Valentine was playing with the Leduc AAA Oil Kings in Alberta this season, appearing in 27 games and picking up three goals, nine points and four penalty minutes. He says he’ll try to bring a solid, defensive style to the Warriors, “I like to keep my stick on the puck and just play body-on-body, but I’m not known to be a big hitter.”
The 6’2” 178lbs defenceman adds that he’s hoping to use this experience to help him in sticking with the team next season out of training camp, “I think this will get me into the routine a little bit sooner than the kids that are coming in next year and hopefully I’ll be bigger and stronger next year and ready to go.”
Valentine has yet to appear in a game with the Warriors since being called up on Thursday, sitting out of Friday’s meeting with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
