Warriors Knockoff Broncos 5-2
A night after snapping their ten game winless streak, the Moose Jaw Warriors upset the Broncos Saturday night, picking up a 5-2 win in Swift Current.
Broncos leading scorer Adam Lowry put his team in control just over a minute into the game with a cross ice pass to Ryon Moser in the Moose Jaw zone. Moose Jaw didn’t back down from the bigger Broncos, on the power play late in the period Justin Kirsch went tape-to-tape to Brayden Point inside the Swift Current left circle, Point’s 11th of the year tied the game at one heading into the intermission.
Moose Jaw seemed to slow down the Broncos in the second period which led to sustained Warrior pressure. Shortly after a fight between Moose Jaw’s Jordan Messier and Swift Current’s Brett Lernout, Bryson Gore picked up a loose puck and snapped it passed Landon Bow for his fifth of the year which put Moose Jaw in the driver’s seat heading towards the third.
The turning point in the game came at 6:24 of the third period when Tanner Eberle was able to get around the Broncos defense for a breakaway. As Eberle drove the net he was slashed by a back checking Brycen Martin, the referee issued Eberle a penalty shot. The second year Warrior capitalized on the opportunity, scoring his tenth of the season to put Moose Jaw in front by two.
Swift Current’s leaders put life back in their legs under two minutes later. Reece Scarlett found Lowry in the neutral zone; Lowry then drove down the Warrior right boards and returned the puck to Scarlett who beat Justin Paulic to make it a one goal game.
As the third continued the Warriors held their ground. Paulic made a number of key saves, loose pucks were moved away by the defense, and when they had a chance to crash along the boards they took it.
Justin Kirsch’s 16th goal of the year at 18:34 put Moose Jaw back up by two; Sam Fioretti’s 25th of the year on a late power play finished the game. Moose Jaw knocked off the Broncos 5-2, improving their record to 16-25-3-6.
There were plenty of fireworks at the end of the game, after the Kirsch goal the Broncos Graham Black was given a major and game misconduct for elbowing. There was a brawl to finish the game, Moose Jaw’s Tyler Bell, Colton McCarthy, and Brandon Potomak along with Swift Current’s Dillon Heatherington, Zac Mackay, and Dalton Reum were issued major’s and game misconducts for fighting.
Fioretti, Kirsch, and Point all had a goal and two points for the Warriors; Morgan Rielly had one assist; Justin Paulic made 32 saves in the win; Lowry led the Broncos with two assists; Scarlett had a goal and two points; Landon Bow made 19 saves in the loss. Moose Jaw was 2-for-8 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Moose Jaw’s 3-in-3 weekend continues Sunday night in Saskatoon with the Warriors and Blades third meeting of the season. Catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the PreGame Show at 5:40pm.
