MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The time has finally come.
The Moose Jaw Warriors will open the Memorial Cup national major junior hockey championship tournament in mere hours when they take on the host Saginaw Spirit.
It’s a game that the Warriors have been waiting for ever since they won the Western Hockey League championship last Wednesday and the latest in what will be a series of historic contests for the local squad.
“It’s going to be electric in the building, we understand that,” Warriors forward Jagger Firkus said in a media availability on Thursday afternoon. “It’s everyone’s first Memorial Cup for us, it’s going to be a crazy atmosphere in there and we’re just looking forward to it.”
One thing that’s certain is that even though the Spirits are the host team, they’re going to be an exceptional challenge.
Saginaw had an impressive regular season, posting a 50-16-1-1 record to only finish behind the eventual Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights in the regular season standings.
The Spirit then reached the OHL semifinal before falling to the Knights in six games.
Like the Warriors, they feature a high-scoring standout defenceman. Zayne Parekh, a 17-year-old expected to go high in the 2024 NHL Draft, led Saginaw in scoring with 33 goals and 96 points in 66 games. Not far behind was the OHL’s most recent exceptional status player Michael Misa, who had 29 goals and 75 points in 67 games.
The Spirit also added forward Owen Beck at the trade deadline, with the World Junior team member putting up 34 goals and 81 points in 57 games.
Saginaw split starts in goal during the regular season with Andrew Oke posting a 29-10-1-0 record with a 2.89 goals against average and 0.890 save percentage, while Nolan Lalonde had a 21-8-1-1 record with a 3.31 GAA and 0.869 SP.
For all that, the Warriors are mostly worried about playing their own game, following the same kind of plan that got them through the WHL playoffs unscathed.
“We just need to play our game, we can’t really worry too much about that and focus on what we can do,” Firkus said.
Once the Warriors wrap things up with Saginaw, they’ll have Saturday and Sunday off before taking on the Knights on Monday and QMJHL champion Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday.
Each game will be as intense as they come, with no chance for do-overs like one would find in a seven-game series. That’s something that will take adjustment, but also something Warriors forward Matthew Savoie feels the team is more than capable of handling.
“Every team plays such a different style that you have to be able to change your game just by looking at video and reading off a couple of their systems,” he said. “Our group did a good job of that in the playoffs, switching series, being able to turn the page quick after games.”
Regardless of how much hoopla there is around the tournament and the festivities themselves, the goal for the Warriors has never changed -- bring home the Memorial Cup for the first time in the Moose Jaw Warriors’ 40-year history.
“For our group, the main priority, the only focus is winning,” he said. “We’re a really driven group, we want to play for each other, nobody wants to let each other down, so every single game we’ll have our best effort and really go for it.”
Puck drop for all three round robin games is 5:30 p.m., with the contests broadcast on TSN.
-- With files from Marc Smith, Moose Jaw Warriors
