The Moose Jaw Warriors are off to a great start in the second half of the Western Hockey Hockey League season.
Playing their first game after the holiday break, the Warriors had a hat trick from overage forward Ryder Korczak and would go on to a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Ice in Western Hockey League action on Wednesday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The win was no small feat -- Winnipeg has led the Eastern Conference from start to finish this season and have spent the majority of the campaign as the Canadian Hockey League’s top-ranked team.
But through sheer grit and determination, the Warriors handed Winnipeg only their fifth loss of the season, improving to 21-12-0-0 on the campaign and maintaining their hold on fourth place, eight points back of the surging Saskatoon Blades and one up on the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
“I thought for the first game after the break, our execution wasn’t there with the puck, but I loved our effort and compete when we didn’t have the puck,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “Whether it was after a mistake or when you’re playing against a team that’s making plays, we did a good job of getting back inside of home plate and getting things done.”
Korczak opened scoring on the power play at the 9:29 mark of the first period, one-timing home a rebound off a Jagger Firkus shot from in close.
The lead wouldn’t last the period, though, as Matthew Savoie would jump on a rebound off the back boards to the side of the net and put a shot home with just over three minutes left in the period.
Korczak didn’t need long to restore the Warriors’ lead in the second frame, taking a pass out of the corner from Atley Calvert and putting a backhand in close past Hauser only 49 seconds in.
He then capped off scoring in the game and his first hat trick of the season with an empty-net goal with 45 seconds to play.
“It felt good,” Korczak said of the first game back after the break. “Nine days off is never easy to come back from but we just played simple, Chip pucks in, go on the forecheck, and the easiest thing to do is keep moving your feet and good things will happen.”
While the three-goal outburst -- and 200th point of his career -- were nice accomplishments, the win was naturally more important in Korczak’s eyes.
“It’s nice to always get a couple goals, but the biggest thing is the two points and I’m happy with that,” he said.
As has become a regular occurrence this season when the Warriors record big wins, there’s little question that Connor Ungar was a huge part of it. The Warriors’ overage goaltender had to be sharp as Winnipeg pressed for the tying goal, including a handful of big saves as the second and third periods progressed. None were bigger than a breakaway stop on Savoie midway through the second that saw the Buffalo Sabres first-round draft pick try to deke his way into a goal but only finding Ungar’s right pad.
“It’s crazy how well he’s playing now,” lauded Korczak. “Obviously if he wasn’t in net we wouldn’t have had a chance in that game, two-on-ones, breakaways, anything, he’s a rock back there and we have confidence in him and he was huge for us.”
Ungar finished with 34 saves in the win, Hauser turned aside 21 shots for Winnipeg.
Moose Jaw is back in action on Friday night when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
