The Moose Jaw Warriors went into the Christmas break on a high note after scoring four goals in the second period and went onto beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 7-4, at Mosaic Place.

Brayden Burke led the charge with a goal and five points in the win for the Warriors, while Jayden Halbgewachs and Vince Loschiavo potted a pair of goals each.  Justin Almeida picked up a goal and three points.

In their first meeting of the season, the two teams established a quick pace as they rush up and down the ice looking to go on the attack.

Moose Jaw picked up the game’s first goal at 13:35, when Almeida followed a bouncing puck to the Brandon left goal line and was then able to swing it to the top of the Brandon crease where Loschiavo scored his ninth of the season, and second as a Warriors.

The lead was short lived as the Wheat Kings responded only 40 seconds later as Ty Lewis stripped a Warriors defenceman of the puck on the back check along the Moose Jaw end boards and connected with a wide open Baron Thompson in front of the Moose Jaw net where he tied the game at one.

Moose Jaw was able to attack the Wheat Kings with their speed throughout the second period and when they came inside the offensive line, they had good second efforts to keep Brandon pinned.

Just over four minutes into the period, the Warriors took the lead when Jaxan Kaluski jumped on a loose puck inside the right Brandon circle and scored his second goal of the season.

Up by one the Warriors power play went to work. At 7:19, the Wheat Kings looked to clear the puck, but shot it right into the back of a Warriors, Burke jumped on the puck and then swung it to the top of the left crease for Halbgewachs, who lifted in his team-leading 34th goal.

Back on the power play, two minutes later, Burke controlled the puck along the Brandon right boards and then set up Loschiavo on top of the circle where he snapped in his second of the game.

With just over a minute remaining in the period, the Warriors were on the penalty kill, but that didn’t stop their offence. Burke created a turnover inside the Moose Jaw zone and then led an odd man rush up the ice with Almeida; Burke came down the right wing and then made a beautiful pass to Almeida charging the net where he knocked in his 19th goal of the year to make it 5-1.

Brandon fought back in the third period and pulled to within two after goals from Connor Gutenberg (9:15) and Stelio Mattheos (10:28).

Moose Jaw put momentum back in their favour at 11:14 though as Halbgewachs drove through two Brandon defenscmen and lifted the puck top shelf for a highlight reel goal to make it 6-3. That goal tied him with Swift Current’s Tyler Steenbergen for the WHL-lead with 35.

With under six minutes left in the game, the Wheat Kings crawled back to within two on a goal from Caden Dailey, but the Warriors put the game away with under five minutes left when Burke scored his 16th of the season.

Moose Jaw narrowly outshot the Wheat Kings 30-29, while going 2-for-6 on the power play and 7-for-7 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal.

The Warriors go into the Christmas break sitting on top of the East Division, Eastern Conference and WHL with a record of 27-6-1-1.

They will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 27 when they head to Swift Current. Their next home game is Dec. 28 in a rematch with the Broncos. Moose Jaw will close out the 2017 portion of their schedule with a home-and-home series against Brandon, which starts the 30th in Manitoba and then wraps up New Year’s Eve at Mosaic Place.

Howden & Hunter head to World Juniors… Warriors Captain Brett Howden has been selected to play for Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championships, joining Warriors head coach Tim Hunter, who is returning to Canada’s bench as an Assistant Coach for the second straight year.  Canada has exhibition games against the Czech Republic and Switzerland next week, and they open the tournament on Boxing Day against Finland in Buffalo, N.Y.