The Moose Jaw Winmar Warriors will be heading into the Sask Male AAA Hockey League post-season as one of the hottest teams in the league.
The question now is if they can turn their regular-season-ending run of success into a solid showing in the post-season.
The Warriors will take on the Saskatoon Contacts in their first-round playoff series beginning Friday night in Saskatoon, and despite the Contacts having home-ice advantage, there’s little question Moose Jaw will be heading in with plenty of confidence.
That’s because the Warriors won 12 of their last 14 games over the last two months of the season, with a loss to Regina on the final day of the campaign snapping what was an eight-game winning streak. All told, the Warriors have lost only two games since mid-January.
Game two of the series is at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Sunday afternoon, with puck drop at 1:30 p.m.
The two teams met four times in the regular season, with Saskatoon winning the first three games against a Warriors team that was playing far differently than they are today.
That included a 7-2 Contacts victory in Saskatoon on Oct. 2, 4-1 win in Moose Jaw on Nov. 5 and a 4-3 win in Saskatoon on Jan. 8.
The most recent meeting between the two clubs came on Sunday, Feb. 5 in the midst of the Warriors' winning run, with Moose Jaw rolling to a 6-2 victory on home ice.
One of the key factors in the series will be how Moose Jaw high scoring top line fares against Saskatoon’s staunch defence.
The Warriors’ Liam Fitzpatrick finished atop the SMAAAHL scoring leaders with 37 goals and 73 points in 44 games, while Connor Miller had 25 goals and 56 points to go along with 19 goals and 56 points from Grady Hoffman, tying the duo for fifth in league scoring.
Zach Moore was Saskatoon’s top scorer with 27 goals and 54 points in 36 games.
The Contacts have done a stellar job in their own zone all season, with their goaltending showing off that effort -- Chase Wutzke finished with a 10-5-0-4 record and 2.16 goals against average, fourth-best in the league, while Logan Edmonstone was 15-6-0-0 and sixth overall with a 2.51 GAA.
Ryan Bain led Moose Jaw’s goaltending with a 15-6-0-3 record and 3.93 GAA to sit 15th in the SMAAAHL, Ryan Hicks was 8-9-0-1 with a 3.93 GAA and 16th overall.
Saskatoon finished in third place with a 27-13-0-4 record, while the Warriors’ late-season surge pushed them all the way to sixth place at 23-17-0-4.
Game 3 of the series is set for Tuesday, Mar. 7 in Saskatoon, with Game 4 back in Moose Jaw on Thursday, Mar. 9 and Game 5 back in Saskatoon on Saturday, Mar. 11, with the latter two if necessary in the best-of-five series.
For the latest scores, be sure to visit www.smaaaahl.com.
