The Moose Jaw WINMAR Warriors aren’t looking at much of a mystery when it comes to dealing with the Regina Pat Canadians in their first-round Sask Male AAA Hockey League playoff series.
Throughout their four games this past season, there was a common theme, and finding a way through that issue will be one of the top priorities for the local squad when the series begins Saturday night in Regina: find a way to shut down the Pat Canadians’ top line, and use your team depth to find a way to get things done.
To that end, the Warriors’ coaching staff have been hard at work revising strategies, with the final two days before the beginning of the postseason offering the final few steps in that direction.
“We’re getting ready here, obviously it’s a new season and we’re prepping for a tough team,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber on Wednesday afternoon. “I’m just going through video here now, and we’re going to watch some video this afternoon to go over some things. We’ve had four days of practice here and tomorrow and Friday we’ll tweak some systems stuff and be ready for Saturday.”
The Warriors head into the playoffs on a four-game winning streak that saw them finish in seventh place with a 22-19-3-0 record. Regina has had success all season and landed in second place with a 32-11-1-0 mark, including four wins over the Warriors during the campaign.
Each of those wins was by three goals or more, and each saw Regina’s high-scoring trio of Steven Steranka (34-28-62), Casey Brown (33-23-56) and Ellis Mieyette (17-34-51) lead the way. Each had eight points against Moose Jaw, making the line target number one for the Warriors going forward.
“We’re definitely going to have to shut those guys down, we’ll have to do a better job taking away time and space from that group,” Weisgerber said. “I’ve talked to a couple coaches around the league and seen video from teams that have had really good success in games against them, and that’s the biggest thing… we take away time and space from that top unit and be real hard on them, I think we could have some real success against these guys.”
Brennan Brown and Bryce Boughen each had a goal a three points against Regina,
Dylan Duzan was Moose Jaw’s top scorer overall with 22 goals and 45 points, good enough for 19th overall in the league.
On top of limiting Regina’s offence, the Warriors will need to generate more of their own after being outscored 20-7 across the four regular-season games.
“We’re going to need everybody, there’s no question,” Weisgerber said. “That’s how we’ve done it all year, it’s been a group effort and when we’re successful, we have everyone going. It’s that time of the year where you need everybody and I think our guys are ready to go and I’m looking forward to getting going on Saturday.”
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is in Moose Jaw on Monday at 7:45 p.m. at the Moose jaw Events Centre, followed by Game 3 on Wednesday, Mar. 6 in Regina, Game 4 Thursday, Mar. 7 in Moose Jaw (7 p.m.) and Game 5 in Regina on Sunday, Mar. 10. The latter two games are if necessary.
Other series see the Saskatoon Blazers (1) taking on the Estevan Great North Bears (8), Warman Wildcats (3) vs. the Tisdale Trojans (6) and Swift Current Legionnaires (4) against the Prince Albert Mintos (5).
