The Moose Jaw Warriors have put together one of the best starts in franchise history over the course of the first half of the Western Hockey League season.

The Tribe went into the Christmas break with a 20-8-4-1 record, which has them sitting second in the East Division and gives them the third best record in the Eastern Conference.

Coming out of the first 33 games of the year, the Warriors are happy with where they’re positioned heading into the stretch run towards the playoffs.

“For the most part, the team has really come together, they’ve played hard, there’s been some bumps along the way, I’m not sure we’ve had a full lineup just yet to see exactly what we can be,” said General Manager Alan Millar.

“All in all when you’re under ten regulation losses at the break, you’ve done some good things.”

There has been a ton of positives for the Warriors throughout the first half, the play of Jayden Halbgewachs being one as he heads into the break leading the WHL in goals with 29 and sits fifth in points with 52.

Brayden Burke has had a point in every game since joining the Warriors, expect for his debut, carrying a 12-game point streak into the break.  Captain Brett Howden is also on a ten-game point streak, while Noah Gregor has 27 points in his last 14 games.

The overall play of the team offensively night-to-night has been impressive as they feature three players in the top-10 in WHL scoring and four in the top-20.

“We’re certainly more dynamic, we can score, we’ve gotten better, but we still want to work on our consistency, playing better with the lead and digging into certain details of the game at important times, getting that goal when you have a 3-1 lead, important power plays,” said Millar.

The progression of players across the roster has been an encouraging sign for Millar and the team with young players like Josh Brook, Jett Woo and Luka Burzan playing big roles.  17-year-old rookie Chantz Petruic is still looking for his first goal, but has shown signs of adapting to the WHL over the past month, as did Jaxan Kaluski before being injured indefinitely.

“You look at our roster and you look over this year and next year and not a lot of change, and where we’re at and where some guys have grown to, it could be a second half here to look forward to and hopefully a year-and-a-half here to look forward to for our hockey club and our fans,” said Millar. 

The Warriors have earned some big wins, including this past Friday’s 5-4 win over the division-leading Regina Pats at Mosaic Place.  They have also had a bad habit of giving away games, like this past Saturday in Regina when they took a 3-2 leading into the third period and allowed the Pats to score five goals for the win.

Moose Jaw is focused on building that consistency moving into the second half and Millar said it starts with cutting down the shots against.

“We’re giving up too many shots on net, we’ve had some periods where we’ve been badly out-shot, again those go into the first 15-18 games of the year and we’ve found a way to be better in that area,” said Millar.  “We stand in the bottom five in the league in shots against and to be a successful team, we’ve got to be better in that area.

“We’ve had a lot of teaching moments, 4-0 lead in the third period in Med Hat, two-goal leads late in games that we’ve found our way into overtime or a shootout, it’s junior hockey, young guys make mistakes, we’re not the only team that has those bumps in the road, but to be a good team, you need to learn from those things and you need to make sure those aren’t consistent mistakes.”

There’s been that progression in the team’s play from September/October to December and now the key to keeping that progression going and peaking heading into the playoffs.

The Warriors will open the second half in Swift Current against the Broncos on Dec. 27.  They host the Broncos at Mosaic Place on Dec. 28.