It took overtime but the U13 AA Warriors ended up with their first win of the exhibition season, with a 5-4 win over the Swift Current Broncos at the Kinsmen Arena. 

Warriors head coach Shane Smith said he was happy to see his team come out on the good side of a good hockey game.

"There's lots to work on, but it was tough for the kids," Smith said. "Seven months off not playing competitive hockey, and then just throwing them right in the mix. In the first period, I think we saw a lot of jitters. As the game went on, this game got really fast and very competitive. It was a great hockey game. They're a good team over there and I think we're going to have lots of good battles with them over the season." 

The Warriors had a 4-2 lead in the game evaporate but came back with an O.T. goal. Warriors' Ryan Gibbs scored a hat trick, including the game-winner on a breakaway, and added two assists in the game while Carter Hudyma had a goal and three assists. Elijah McFadden scored the other goal for Moose Jaw. 

Smith was pleased with the way his team persevered to win in overtime.

"It's a tough league," Smith said. "You can't give up and you've got to keep working for 60 minutes. We had a really tough start and a couple of kids maybe were awakened to the level of speed in this league. It took a little bit of time to adjust, but once they adjusted, it seemed to pick up really well. But the last two periods definitely went well for us."  

Smith noted the Warriors took seven minor penalties compared to three for Swift Current. 

"We had some discipline issues, killing penalties that we don't want to be taking those penalties," he said. "The old cliche of your goaltender's got to be your best penalty killer was definitely true for us today. We'll move forward from that and hopefully build on some discipline stuff and keep working. We've got a lot of talent in our team and once we put it all together it'll be a really strong season for us."

The Warriors are looking to schedule their next exhibition game for this weekend, possibly against Swift Current.