Moose Jaw Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary hopes his troops learned a valuable lesson in their Western Hockey League contest with the Red Deer Rebels on Friday night.
Work hard every shift and consistently compete, or the results you’re looking for won’t show up on the scoreboard.
The Rebels scored three goals on the power play, including a pair on a five-minute major to start the third period, and would go on to a 4-2 victory at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
While the Warriors didn’t take an inordinate amount of penalties -- Red Deer was 3-for-7 with the man advantage -- the ones they did take were costly.
“I didn’t agree with the major, but the other ones I thought we were second to pucks and on the wrong side all night,” O’Leary said. “I think we got a lesson tonight on what it looks like to truly work and to truly compete, and that’s two straight games now where we’ve been second and that’s not good enough.”
Making the outcome all the more difficult in O’Leary’s eyes is that the issue is simply one of hard work, something the Warriors have made a hallmark of their team in recent seasons.
“That’s a decision,” he said. “All these things are a choice by each and every player. We’ve shown we can do it and for some reason we’re choosing not to do it and we’re looking for the easy way out. It’s not going to work, our conference is too good, the teams are too good, the players are too good for us to be half in. When we decide we’re all in, we’ll get a different result.”
The Warriors took a 1-0 lead with 20 seconds left in the first period, thanks to a smooth play from Jagger Firkus. The Seattle Kraken draft pick broke into the Red Deer zone down the right wing and got off a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that went bar down blocker side on Rebels netminder Kyle Kelsey.
That Moose Jaw had the lead at all was the product of some solid penalty killing and good old-fashioned luck. The Warriors took three minors in the frame and had multiple shots redirect in front of goaltender Connor Ungar on the ensuing Red Deer power plays, but the reigning WHL goaltender of the week was able to make the saves and keep the Rebels off the board.
Red Deer got things going at 10:27 of the second, and it was a weird one. Kai Uchacz was credited with the goal, but it was Warriors defenceman Cole Jordan who scored, putting the puck past Ungar while attempting to clear it out of the crease.
Eric Alarie gave the Warriors back the lead with 4:50 to play in the period, finishing off some good ole hard work by his linemates. Atley Calvert forced a turnover in the corner and got a pass out front to Robert Baco, who got a diving shot off on Kelsey from the slot. The rebound went right to Alarie at the side of the crease and he’d put a shot into the wide-open net for the 2-1 Moose Jaw edge.
The lead didn’t last the period. Ben King tied the game with a power play goal with 49 seconds remaining in the frame, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Chris Sedoff and Jayden Grubbe with a one-timer into the open net.
Red Deer had a perfect chance to take the lead early in the third when Tate Schoffer was hit with a five-minute major for charging in the final seconds of the second, and they’d make the Warriors pay.
King scored his second of the game 3:04 into the power play, finding a rebound in the slot and putting a shot home past Ungar. Jayden Grubbe then gave Red Deer a 4-2 lead with 17 seconds left in the major, finishing off a quick rush off the transition with a shot high blocker side.
That closed out scoring in the game, and despite a late power play combined with a 6-on-4 with the Ungar pulled for the extra attacker, the Warriors were unable to make things any closer.
Ungar finished the game with 35 saves for Moose Jaw, Kelsey stopped 28 shots for Red Deer.
Moose Jaw fell to 4-4 with the loss, Red Deer improved to 6-0.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday night when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes, and O’Leary is expecting a stronger showing from his crew in light of recent losses..
“It’s not going to get any easier tomorrow, either,” he said. “We’re playing a Lethbridge team that plays hard and heavy like Red Deer and if we’re not ready to compete, we’ll come out second there as well. I expect a much different group tomorrow and we can expect a different result only if we start with the work.”
Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
