MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- On paper and at a quick glance, it would appear that the Moose Jaw Warriors and Brandon Wheat Kings are quite possibly two of the closest-matched teams heading into the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Each team had four wins against the other in the regular season, with all but one game decided by three goals or fewer.
But there’s a massive caveat to all that.
The two teams played only twice after Dec. 16, right around the time the Warriors began their ascent up the Eastern Conference standings. Their second-most recent match-up was a 4-2 Warriors win in Moose Jaw on Feb. 15, while Brandon took a 5-3 victory over a disinterested and understaffed Moose Jaw side on Mar. 21.
What that all means in the bigger scheme of things will soon be settled on the ice, but make no mistake -- the Warriors are looking forward to finally getting their 2024 playoff run underway when they take the ice on Friday night in Game 1 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“I think we’re excited,” said Warriors coach Mark O’Leary after practice on Wednesday afternoon. “Sometimes these weeks feel long with the practice time, we’re just champing at the bit waiting to play. I think the guys have done a great job here at practice just honing in on details and making sure our game is where we want it, but it’s mainly just been excitement.”
Because of the quirk in the schedule, the Warriors haven’t put a lot of stock into the early season games between the two teams, in no small part to the fact they’re a far, far different team compared to where they were in mid-December.
That’s led to trying to put together a gameplan from watching the Wheat Kings play other teams, something O’Leary feels has gone well.
“There’s not a whole lot to draw from with the games early on this season, we’re been looking more at their games as of late and seeing them last week, that helps a little bit,” he said. “We like to think we’re a better team than we were weeks ago and that’s been the goal all season long.”
The Warriors capped their regular season with a 44-21-0-3 record, good enough for third in the Eastern Conference thanks to the Central Division-winning Swift Current Broncos automatically getting second place. Brandon landed at 33-28-6-1 and in sixth place, 18 points back of the Warriors.
Moose Jaw is naturally the favourite in the series and will be looking to draw on their playoff experience the last two seasons to help push them over the top in the opening round.
“We can draw some confidence from last year, and the guys we’ve brought in like Matthew Savoie, he’s had more success than anybody and that’s important, too,” O’Leary said. “You draw from those experiences and those moments when you can grab your emotions and keep them where they need to be.
“The thing for us is to stay present in the moment. Your emotions are high, your emotions are always there and it’s a matter of staying on an even keel. Whether it’s a tough call or a goal we didn’t score or a bad bounce, it doesn’t change what we’re trying to do and we want to keep in the moment no matter what happens.”
One thing that’s for certain is there’s a feeling of ‘the time is now’ for one of the most talented and deep Warrior crews in team history.
“I’ve had the privilege of coaching this group of guys the last few years and you get to know them and the relationships with them, they almost become assistant coaches,” O’Leary said. “They talk on the bench and in the dressing room and the coachs' language and the players’ language is all one… We saw that last year with Ryder Korczak as a mature guy who was a big part of that race, now we’re seeing it with Calvert, Firkus, Mateychuk, Yager. They’re leading by example and they’re saying the right things, too.”
Game 2 of the series is set for Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre before the series reverts to Brandon for Game 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday night.
