WARRIORS COMPLETE WEEKEND SWEEP
Moose Jaw, SK — The Moose Jaw Warriors completed a weekend sweep of their weekend home and home series with Brandon Saturday night, scoring a 4-3 victory and handing the Wheat Kings their third straight loss.
Eric Arnold scored twice, including the winner with eight minutes remaining in the third period to lead the Warriors, who moved into a tie with Brandon for second place in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Division – with two games in hand.
Kenton Miller and Andrew Johnson rounded out the scoring for the Warriors, who led 1-0 and 3-2 at the period breaks. Johnson’s goal came on the powerplay after Brandon captain Mark Stone had been assessed a questionable unsportsmanlike penalty.
Jason Swryripa, Paul Ciarelli and Michael Ferland replied for the Wheat Kings, who outshot the Warriors 30-28 and unlike Friday night when they surrendered 22 shots in a disastrous third period at Westman Place, Brandon gave up just five in the final period in this game.
“I think we were tighter coming through the neutral zone on the back-check, I think we worked a lot harder coming back and giving back side support so they didn’t have a lot of time to delay or make plays,” Brandon assistant coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk told Bruce Luebke on CKLQ’s post-game show, “ I thought our D had better gap, which really reduced the number of shots we gave up.”
Prior to Saturday night, the Wheat Kings had given up 40 plus shots in six of their previous eight games.
With the loss, Brandon’s record slipped to 16-10-1-1. Besides sharing second place with Moose Jaw, the Wheat Kings remain three points back of the front running Saskatoon Blades, who fell 4-1 Saturday night to the visiting Vancouver Giants.
The Giants will provide the next opposition for the Wheat Kings as they will visit Westman Place on Wednesday night for a 7 pm start.
Tickets to the game will go back on sale Monday morning at the Keystone Centre box office. Fans can also order online at ticketmaster.ca or by calling 726-3555.
