NORTH BATTLEFORD -- The Moose Jaw WINMAR Warriors might have gone into their Sask Male U18 AAA Hockey League weekend set with the Battlefords Stars more than 30 points their better, but that meant little when it came to the action on the ice.
The Warriors found themselves battling tooth and nail in both games, eventually going on to 2-1 win on Saturday before scoring three in the third and taking a 3-2 win on Sunday.
Moose Jaw is now 30-8-3 on the season and sit three points back of first place Regina and three up on third-place Swift Current. Battlefords fell to 13-24-4 and are in ninth place, 12 points back of Prince Albert for the final playoff spot.
Moose Jaw 2, Battlefords 1
Both contests followed a similar pattern -- tight checking and scoreless through the first two periods before seeing an offensive outburst over the final 20 minutes.
Saturday’s contest saw Moose Jaw’s Brennan Brown open scoring 3:29 into the final period, only for Battlefords’ Austin Schafer to tie things up less than two minutes later.
That set the stage for the Warriors’ Ryan Gibbs to score his 35th of the season with 31 seconds remaining in regulation, giving the Warriors their one-goal win.
The contest was also remarkably clean, with only three minor penalties called, two of those to the Warriors.
Keaton Lesperance picked up a pair of assists for Moose Jaw.
Warriors goaltender Kaleb Page stopped 30 shots to earn the win, Nicholas Grunerud had 40 saves for Battlefords.
Moose Jaw 3, Battlefords 2
After two scoreless periods in the rematch, the Warriors scored three quick goals in the third before holding off a Battlefords comeback.
Gage Nagel got things started 1:31 into the final frame, with Kierin Osberg making it 2-0 1:27 later and Maxx Fuessel running it to 3-0 only 1:40 after that marker.
Battlefords’ Aaron Kowalyk immediately got one back for his crew with 4:10 gone in the period, and there things would remain until Easton Kozak made it a one-goal game with 2:25 to play.
The Stars would pull Grunerud for the extra attacker with 2:22 to play, but Moose Jaw would hold on for the win.
Each team was 1-for-2 on the power play in another clean contest.
Luke McKechnie had 26 saves for the victory, the Warriors fired 36 shots on Grunerud.
The WINMAR Warriors are back in action Wednesday when they host the Tisdale Trojans, with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Battlefords return to the ice on Thursday when they host the Prince Albert Mintos, with puck drop at 7:30 from the Access Communications Centre.
