For the vast majority of the season, the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors have been a tough crew to get a win against,
More than one team has seen a comfortable lead disappear and turn into a victory for the local squad, with Friday night’s Sask Male AAA Hockey League contest against the Saskatoon Contacts offering the latest example.
Trailing 3-1 early in the second period, the Warriors would score three unanswered goals, including the winner in overtime to take a 4-3 victory at Mosaic Place.
The win had huge implications in the standings. While Moose Jaw currently sits in sixth place in the 12-team league with a 25-16-0-1 record, their 51 points see them tied for fourth with the Regina Pat Canadians and Prince Albert Mintos. The Contacts, meanwhile, are only a single point back with 50 points.
The deciding factor in who finishes where will likely come out of the games-in-hand. Regina controls their destiny with six games remaining on the season compared to the two left for Moose Jaw and Prince Albert. Saskatoon has three games left on their schedule.
On Friday, the Warriors got off to a bit of a tough start as Saskatoon’s Tyler Lindal and Berkly Catton sandwiched a Warriors marker by Orin Olson to take a 2-1 lead out of the opening frame.
Braeden Jockims made it 3-1 Contacts five minutes into the second, but that would be the last bit of good news for the visitors.
Fitzpatrick pulled Moose Jaw back within one with a power player marker with 4:32 remaining in the second and Connor Miller scored unassisted with 4:34 gone in the third to tie things up.
There things remained through the rest of the period and most of overtime, when Fitzpatrick finished things off with only six seconds remaining to give the Warriors the crucial extra point.
Olson also drew an assist on the game winner.
Ethan Fechter played 48:46 of the contest and made 23 saves, while Ryan Bain played 16:08 and stopped all eight shots he faced. The Warriors had 38 shots on Saskatoon’s Chase Wutzke.
Moose Jaw is right back in action tonight against the aforementioned Mintos, with game time at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place. They close out their regular season on Family Day Monday against the Tisdale Trojans, with a special holiday game time of 2 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
