The Moose Jaw Warriors finished their pre-season with a win Saturday and they scored some goals in the process.
The Warriors beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3 Saturday night to close the pre-season with a 3-1-1-0 record. Their Western Hockey League campaign will begin with their home opener Friday against Swift Current (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).
“We’re making some steps in the right direction. I can see times where we’re getting it. We don’t always stick with it, but that’s part of the growth at the start of this young season,” said Warriors head coach Mike Stothers.
“I think we needed to finish strong like we did here. Our record is OK for an exhibition season. Now we’ll prepare for the upcoming season.”
Brayden Point scored twice for the Warriors, while Andrew Johnson, Sam Fioretti and Torrin White also scored.
While the likes of Johnson, Fioretti and White are expected to shoulder more of the scoring load, five of the Warriors 12 goals from the weekend came from rookies.
“There’s obviously a little bit of pressure on us second and third line guys to step up into a first or second line role this year, but our young guys have shown that they can put the puck in the net and that takes a lot of pressure off of us younger guys” said White who is entering his second WHL season.
Richard Nejezchleb and Alessio Bertaggia scored first period goals for the Wheat Kings to give them a 2-1 lead. The Warriors scored three straight goals to take the lead before Eric Roy scored with 3:20 left to cut the Warriors’ lead to 4-3. White’s power play goal with 48 seconds left iced the Warrior win.
Justin Paulic made 20 saves to earn the win in goal for the Warriors.
Corbin Boes stopped 29 shots for Brandon.
