The rivalry between the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Regina Pats has a long, rich past. The matchup on Wednesday evening when the Warriors travel east along the Trans-Canada Highway could have a bit more intensity. Both teams are tied for 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 41 points with the Pats having a game in hand.
“It is a huge game and the whole team knows it too. I think we are going to go into Regina and just play our hardest and hopefully we can have a big win,” said Warriors defenceman Morgan Rielly. “The team is pretty pumped to get going again and it is a huge game.”
The Warriors will be looking to keep their playoff hopes alive after snapping a 10 game losing streak over the weekend. The team was able to take four of six points with wins over Kootenay and Swift Current then suffered a 5-0 loss to Saskatoon on Sunday.
“The team was playing all right during that losing skid, but we just didn’t get the bounces that we wanted,” said Warriors rookie Bryson Gore. “You have to create some of your own bounces and I think when we started winning, we were finishing the little things and creating our own bounces and we had some help from some lucky bounces too.”
The Pats will be looking to snap a seven game losing streak, but the Warriors know they can never under-estimate this team, including goaltender Matt Hewitt.
“He’s is a good goaltender. You have to get traffic in front to try to get him off his game, just bang away and hopefully it goes in,” said Gore. “We need to get in hard on our forecheck and make their D turn pucks over. It will be crucial to force them to create turnovers and create some scoring chances off that.”
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
