MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- It was a bit of the good and a bit of the bad for the Moose Jaw WINMAR Warriors in their first games of the Sask Male AAA Hockey League preseason.
The Warriors opened their exhibition campaign with a 5-4 overtime win over the Regina Pat Canadians on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre before dropping a 6-5 overtime decision to the Team Saskatchewan U15s on Saturday afternoon in Notre Dame.
The Warriors have three games remaining in the preseason as they are in Regina to face the Pat Canadians on Tuesday before hosting the Swift Current Legionnaires on Friday and travelling to Swift Current on Sunday, Sept. 22
Warriors 5, Regina 4 OT
The two teams found themselves in a back-and-forth battle to open the SMAAAHL exhibition campaign, with Moose Jaw taking a 2-1 lead out of the first period and the teams tied 3-3 through two.
Ryan Ulmer gave Regina a 4-3 lead with 3:55 gone in the final frame, but Noah Thul would get that right back for the Warriors only 1:04 later, eventually sending the game into overtime.
There, Carson Park would score his second of the game with 3:49 remaining to give Moose Jaw the win.
Ryan Gibbs had the Warriors’ other goal in the first period, while Brennan Brown scored in the second and finished with three points. Marek McIvor and Charlie Nameth each picked up a pair of assists.
Logan Mehl, Nathan Gardiner and Kaiyl Kniaz had the other goals for the Pat Canadians.
Luke McKechnie got the start and stopped 17 shots for the Warriors over 40 minutes of work, Kaleb Page stopped seven shots through the third period and overtime.
Team Sask 6, Warriors 5 OT
While full game details were unavailable, the two teams were tied 2-2 after the first and Team Sask led 3-2 after the second, with the U15s outshooting the Warriors 21-13 at that point in the game.
Maxx Fuessel was the Warriors player of the game after picking up a goal and an assist, while Gibbs scored twice to go along with single markers from Brown and Gage Nagel.
