That shouldn’t be something that can be taken for granted, but with the way things are going for the local squad and the entire Western Hockey League through the first few weeks of the season, seeing a zero on the scoreboard at the end of the game has almost become normal.
Bailey Brkin turned aside 19 shots for his second shutout of the season – and 12th in the WHL this year – as the Warriors took a 3-0 victory over the Regina Pats at Mosaic Place on Sunday afternoon.
Just as remarkable is the fact the Warriors had only four shutouts all last season and now have a pair in their first six games of 2019-20.
“We limited their scoring chances and we did that the last two times we played them,” said Warriors head coach Tim Hunter of the latest clean sheet. “They had a lot of shots from up around the blueline but not a lot from around home plate. So the guys are starting to buy in and figure it out, what we’re supposed to do in those areas. And obviously Bailey is a very good goalie, but he didn’t have a lot of grade A scoring chances tonight.
“It was a team effort, a shut-out is always a team effort and those guys probably ran out of gas in the end.”
The contest was the third in three nights for Regina while the Warriors were coming off a week-long break. Moose Jaw improved to 4-1-0-0 on the season and sit two points back of Prince Albert for first in the East Division. Regina fell to 1-6-0-0 and are in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Owen Hardy got things started for the Tribe, knocking a Pats defender off the puck at the Regina blueline and going in all alone before putting a shot five-hole on Max Paddock. The goal came on Hardy’s first shot as a Warrior after being acquired in a trade with Vancouver last week.
“I thought I was going to get a penalty on that cross-check there and when I picked up the puck there was a whistle blown, so I just took it,” Hardy said. “I wasn’t going five-hole exactly, but I’m happy it went in.”
Carson Denomie scored on the power play just over a minute later to put the Warriors ahead 2-0 before Eric Alarie scored with 3:12 left in the frame to close out scoring. Moose Jaw would outshoot Regina 12-1 in the first period but were outshot 11-3 in the second. Final shots were 25-19 for the Tribe.
“We had a good start, made a big push and got some goals, scored a power play goal and then took our foot off the gas especially on the power play in the second period,” Hunter said. “I thought we played better in the third, but they’re a desperate team, they’ve lost four or five in a row and it was three in three nights for them, but these kids are resilient and sometimes you never know.
“So we were worried about the way we play and it wasn’t good enough for two periods, it was good enough for one period and that was enough to win the hockey game.”
The Warriors were 1-for-9 on the power play, Regina was 0-for-4.
Things pick up quickly schedule-wise for the Warriors going forward as they host Edmonton on Wednesday, Oct. 9 and Vancouver on Friday, Oct. 11 before travelling to Prince Albert.
