Warriors captain Sam Fioretti has 12 goals and 34 points in 40 games this season.

The road will be the Moose Jaw Warriors home for the next month.

 

The tribe will play just two games at home during the month of January and their first trip is coming up this weekend as they head west to Alberta for three games in three nights.

 

The momentum is in the Warriors’ favour going into the road trip with them winning four of their last five games, including a 4-3 win over the Prince Albert Raiders on New Year’s Eve.

 

“We’re definitely playing better and feel better,” said captain Sam Fioretti before the team packed up the bus for Edmonton.  “We’ve got a little more confidence in the room, which is a good thing.”

 

Tuesday’s win over Prince Albert was a nice bounce back performance for the tribe after they lost the backend of a home-and-home against Swift Current on the weekend in a rough outing.  The team came back and played a complete game against the Raiders.

 

“You can’t shifts off, you’ve got to play a full sixty minutes all the time and you’ve got to keep your game simple,” said forward Scott Cooke, who has two goals and five points in 11 games since coming to Moose Jaw.  “Tuesday night everybody contributed well, we got scoring from a bunch of different guys and that’s what you want.”

 

Over the last half of December, the Warriors have been playing some of their best hockey of the season.  They had a three-game winning streak and have been in every contest during the month.

 

“Everyone is starting to ramp it up, guys are starting to click, we’re starting to get into our systems and really just keeping the game simple,” said Cooke.  “Guys aren’t over skating pucks, we’re not stick handling too much and we’re getting pucks to the net.”

 

The tribe will need that kind of solid effort on this weekend road trip.  They open in Edmonton against the third place Oil Kings, then head to Calgary to meet up with the first place Hitmen and wrap-up against a team that they’re chasing for a playoff spot in the Red Deer Rebels.

 

“We’ve got to play our game for three games and it’s going to be a good test for our team,” said Fioretti.  “We’re going to have to have everyone step up and we’ve done a good job of that lately.  All four lines have been putting in good shifts and getting chances, which is key.”

 

A big part of the success as of late for the tribe has been them getting healthy in the forward group.  Jack Rodewald is back playing on the top line with Brayden Point and Tanner Eberle after missing over a month with a broken jaw and Brandon Potomak has also returned to the lineup after almost two months out with a shoulder injury.

 

“The health obviously helps, especially getting a guy like Rodey back, that was huge and Potsy as well,” said Fioretti.  “It’s always good to have a full lineup, guys are playing where they’re suppose to, and it helps for sure.”

 

Going into Friday’s game with the Oil Kings, the Warriors are still very familiar with their squad.  Edmonton is missing some key parts with Curtis Lazar and Griffin Reinhart away at the World Junior Hockey Championship, but they can’t be taken lightly even without those big names.

 

“They’re a very smart team and they play their systems very well,” said Fioretti.  “It’s a matter of us out working them and I think that’s going to be the key to the weekend, just us out working the other teams.”

 

The Warriors and Oil Kings hit the ice at Rexall Place at 8:00pm on Friday night.  You can catch all the action throughout the weekend on Country 100 with Voice of the Warriors James Gallo.  The Pre-Game Show is on the air at 7:40pm.