The Moose Jaw U13 AA Warriors showed they have all kinds of heart in their two games this past weekend, but that wasn’t quite enough to carry them over the finish line in Sask AA Hockey League action.
Twice the Warriors attempted third-period comebacks and twice the Warriors fell just short, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Estevan Primec Controls Bruins on Friday before falling 6-5 to the Regina Mustangs on Saturday, with both games at the Red Knight Arena.
The Warriors are now 4-5-0-0 on the campaign and sit in eighth place in the SFHL South Division standings.
Estevan did all they could to put away the Warriors early in the first game of the weekend, pouring 45 shots on goal through the first two frames but only taking a 4-2 lead.
That gave the Warriors an opening, with Carter Pilipow scoring on the power play 3:14 into the frame to make it a one-goal game. Estevan got that one back midway through the period, but Connor Livingston scored with 3:37 remaining to make it a dramatic finish, only to see the Bruins score an empty netter to finish things off.
Pilipow capped his night with a hat trick and four points, while Miles Winter added a pair of assists.
Trip Kuntz had a stellar game in goal despite the loss, stopping 51 shots.
It was an even closer loss less than 24 hours later, as the Mustangs took a 4-2 lead into the third period, but like Estevan before, found themselves battling tooth and nail to close out the win.
Regina made it 5-2 early in the third, but power play goals from Winter and Braxton Casemore got the Warriors within a goal with 13:30 to play. Winter then tied the game with 8:28 remaining, but the Mustangs would get the game-winner two minutes after that marker.
Rylan Deichert scored in the first and Troy Maltais had Moose Jaw’s other goal in the second.
Glenn Drummond stopped 37 shots for the Warriors.
Moose Jaw is back in action on Saturday, Dec. 16 when they travel to Balgonie to face the Prairie Storm.
