The players that scored 153 of the 258 goals the Moose Jaw Warriors scored a year ago have since moved on.
Friday the new edition of the Warriors did their best to calm any fears about the offence.
The Warriors handed the Brandon Wheat Kings their first defeat of the Western Hockey League pre-season by a 7-1 score.
“I think it was something that was needed. It’s a feel-good for everybody. We struggled in the first couple of exhibition games to find the back of the net. It was good that it happened here tonight,” said Warriors head coach Mike Stothers.
“We established a better net-front presence. We got some point shots through. We got some power plays — and we didn’t score on all of them — but we had good puck movement. It was a good night for everybody.”
The two teams will meet Saturday (7 p.m., Mosaic Place) in the Warriors final pre-season contest. The Warriors are 2-1-1-0 in the pre-season.
While Friday’s offensive eruption was a positive, the Warriors bench boss was even more pleased with the way his team played in all facets.
“I was happy with a lot of the things we did. It’s not always about the goals you score, but the way you play,” said Stothers. “We were more like we are hoping to be — more like we were last year. We played more of the Warrior way and we did a lot of things right with the puck and away from the puck.”
Travis Brown scored twice and Brayden Point and Bryson Gore scored four goals in 3:42 turned a tight 1-0 game into a 5-0 rout in a hurry late in the second period.
Carter Hansen opened the scoring for the Warriors who also got goals from Josh Uhrich and Torrin White. Andrew Johnson chipped in with three assists for the Warriors. Sam Fioretti also had two assists and White and Point also had two-point nights.
Eric Roy scored a power play goal for the Wheat Kings.
Warriors goalie Spencer Tremblay got his first start of the pre-season and he turned away 22 of the 23 shots he faced.
The Warriors finished 2-for-10 on the power play. The Warriors out-shot the Wheat Kings 36-23.
The Warriors scratched Justin Paulic, Kendall McFaull, Reid Jackson, Nikita Zagryadskiy, Jordan Wyton, Austin Bourhis, Tanner Eberle and Brayden Cuthbert.
Bourhis is serving a six-game suspension he picked up at the end of last season for a “one-man fight” against Saskatoon while he was a member of the Prince Albert Raiders. Per WHL rules Bourhis can only play in one pre-season game as punishment and will serve the final three games of his suspension when the Warriors regular season begins.
The 20-year-old Bourhis will get his lone taste of the pre-season Saturday.
