MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Heading into their Western Hockey League regular-season finale with the Regina Pats on Saturday night, most of the Moose Jaw Warriors didn’t have a lot to play for.
In fact, it would have been easy for the team to largely take the night off, go through the motions and just get ready for the playoffs next weekend.
Instead, the Warriors rolled to one of their most commanding wins of the campaign as they hammered out an 11-1 victory in front of 4,747 fans, one of the largest crowds of the season at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
And while the teams themselves didn’t have a lot to play for, one player did.
Heading into the contest, Warriors forward Jagger Firkus was tied for the WHL scoring lead with Prince George’s Zac Funk at 121 points. Funk went out and had a two-point game against the Kamloops Blazers, meaning Firkus would need at least three points to win the scoring title outright.
As the score would indicate, things went exceptionally well for the Seattle Kraken prospect, and thanks to his hat trick and five-point night, Firkus will soon have his name engraved on the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the WHL scoring champion.
All told, Firkus caps the campaign with 61 goals and 126 points while also finishing plus-31.
“Coming into the game I know I had to have a pretty good night, especially with Funk, he’s a great player as well. I’m just happy it all worked out,” Firkus said. “It means a lot to show that the hard work I’ve put in over the last couple of years has helped me grow as a player and I’m really happy about it.”
Thing is, when you put up 11 goals, a whole bunch of other guys are bound to have great nights as well, and that’s exactly what happened.
Brayden Yager played set-up man all game and capped the evening with five assists, finishing the regular season with 35 goals and 94 points to finish 15th in league scoring. Had he not had World Junior duties and played the full schedule, the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect would likely have easily finished in the top five in scoring with a point total in the 112-range.
Matthew Savoie finished with a goal and four points, capping his Moose Jaw regular season with 19 goals and 47 points in 23 games as a Warrior as well as 30 goals and 71 points in a mere 34 games.
Martin Rysavy enjoyed one of his best all around games of the season with a hat trick and plus-six on the night while fellow overager Atley Calvert had a goal and an assist in their final regular season game. Voytech Port and Pavel McKenzie both had single markers.
One of the biggest goal celebrations of the night for the Warriors came with 7:56 gone in the first when defenceman Aiden Ziprick scored his first career WHL goal.
The Warriors’ offence certainly wasn’t hampered by Regina being utterly unable to stay out of the penalty box, with the Pats taking a head-shaking nine straight minors through the 10-minute mark of the third.
Considering the Warriors have the league’s best power play, that didn’t go well for Regina, and Moose Jaw was five-for-nine with the man advantage.
Jackson Unger turned aside 17 shots for his league-best 34th win of the season, but his night ended with 7:08 to play in the game after getting into a scrap with Regina goaltender Kelton Pyne. Dmitri Fortin stopped all four shots he faced the rest of the way.
“I think coming into tonight’s game, they’re not where they wanted to be in the standings and we understood that and it was a bit of a chippy game,” Firkus said. “In the third period, we did a good job of making sure our emotions stayed together, and even though we had a bit of a scuffle, that’s just part of hockey.”
Pyne had 36 saves for Regina, Ewan Huet finished things off with a pair of stops.
The Warriors now have the week of to prepare for the Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round of the WHL playoffs. That series kicks off at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Friday and Saturday, with puck drop at 7 p.m. both nights.
