MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Any team that has a successful run in the Western Hockey League playoffs traditionally has a player or two step up and produce points far above their regular-season clip.
Look back to the 2005-06 campaign -- the first and only time the Moose Jaw Warriors reached the WHL Final -- and you’ll find Steven Gillen, who had 37 points in 71 games in the regular season but hit the scoresheet at a point a game clip in the playoffs, eventually finishing third in the WHL with 20 points in 22 games.
And while it’s just the first round, overage defenceman Lucas Brenton could be that guy this time around.
Brenton put up five assists through the four-game sweep of the Brandon Wheat Kings, exceeding his career total of four points over 20 games the previous two seasons. That has the Warriors rearguard sitting seventh in defenceman scoring heading into the second round, rarified air indeed for a player much more focussed on the defensive side of the game.
For his part, Brenton is just taking it all in stride -- if the points come, they come, but it’s all about protecting his own zone first.
“I got a few points last series, but that doesn’t take away from my game out there, I know what I have to do out there and be a stay-at-home defenceman,” Brenton said after practice on Wednesday afternoon. “I think I was just moving the puck well and doing the right things and that translated into some offence.”
One thing that’s for certain is the Warriors will need to be sharp in their own zone, with the solid play the defensive corps showed in the first round definitely needed when things kick off against the Swift Current Broncos on Friday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“It’s going to be a tough series for sure, but we’ve gone over a lot of things that can help us this week,” Brenton said. “We’re pretty prepared here, and I think it’s going to be a pretty electric series. The crowds are going to be good, the fans will be going and everyone is going to be playing their (butts) off, so we’ll see.”
A lot of the focus has dealt with the Broncos’ play off the rush, which saw the Central Division champions generate many a chance against the Warriors in their six meetings during the regular season.
“Having good sticks off the rush, playing the gap well and just knowing what we have to do on the ice will be important,” Brenton said. “That goes for everyone on the ice, we’ll need everyone doing their job… We’ve been gaming-planning quite a bit for them, we’ve been going over everything we feel we need to have down pat, so we’ll definitely be prepared.”
This marks the second straight season the Warriors have advanced the second round, with losses to the Winnipeg Ice in 2022 and 2023.
There’s a different feeling about things this time around, though, especially with the 20 games of playoff experience the previous two seasons.
“I feel like right from the start of the year we’ve been looking at it like this is the year,” Brenton said. “It’s the last time a lot of us will be together, so we’ve set our goals to have success. We definitely had some playoff experience, but we’ve run into some pretty good teams in the second round. I feel like this year we have a chance to go a long way and it’s just up to us.”
Games 1 and 2 of the series are on Friday and Saturday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, with puck drop at 7 p.m.
