For the first time since the beginning of the 2019-20 season, the Moose Jaw Warriors are among the Canadian Hockey League’s elite.
The Warriors received an honourable mention in the most recent edition of the Kia CHL Top-10 Rankings on Wednesday, marking the first time they’ve received such an honour since the Oct. 9 rankings in 2019.
Moose Jaw carries a 25-16-3-1 record and an eight-game winning streak into Western Hockey League action tonight against the Lethbridge Hurricanes at Mosaic Place, having defeated both teams at the top of the Eastern Conference standings in recent weeks.
That includes a 5-4 shootout win over the top-ranked Winnipeg Ice (29-6-2-1) -- a contest in which they rallied to tie the game three times -- on Jan. 28 to go along with an 8-1 hammering of the fourth-ranked Oil Kings in Edmonton (32-11-2-1) on Jan. 25.
The Warriors got off to a 5-1-0-0 start to the 2019-20 campaign and received an honourable mention in the CHL rankings on Oct. 9, but a lengthy losing skid would mark the beginning of difficult times for the local squad and they’d win only nine games the rest of the season.
Moose Jaw received multiple honourable mentions in 2018-19 before finishing with a 40-20-6-2 record.
The 2017-18 campaign naturally saw the Scotty Munro Trophy-winning crew honoured throughout, as they spent most of the season at number two behind the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds. They finished with a 52-15-2-3 record and were the CHL’s second-ranked team heading into the playoffs, spending 24 weeks in the Top-10.
In addition to the game tonight against Lethbridge, the Warriors host the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday and Calgary Hitmen on Saturday. Games times are all 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
