The road trip started on a losing note, but ended with a bang for the Moose Jaw Warriors.

After dropping the first two games of their seven-game trek through the U.S. Division, the Warriors finished with four wins in the final five games, including a dominating 9-1 win in the last game of the trip in Medicine Hat on Friday.

“We definitely wanted to get this win as a team and come out of the road trip over .500 and ending it off this way definitely felt really good,” said forward Tanner Jeannot, who scored four goals and finished with five points in Friday’s victory.

The Warriors scored nine goals on just 23 shots against the Central Division-leading Tigers as they picked up their 11th win of the season.

Moose Jaw comes out of the road trip with an 11-4-0-0 record on the year, which has them one point clear of the Swift Current Broncos for first place in the East Division and Eastern Conference.

“I’m a glass half full kind of guy and because we’re on a seven-game road trip, you kind of bunch the games together, but if you take away those first two games from the trip, we’re 4-1 in our last five games and that’s pretty good,” said Warriors assistant coach Mark O’Leary after Friday’s win.

The Warriors saw the highs and lows of their game over the course of the road trip and were able to work out a lot of the kinks as they now settle in to play their next five games within the East Division.

Jeannot said the team grew a lot during the road trip.

“You’re spending so much time together on the bus and in the hotels and playing the games on the road, it’s quite the experience for the younger guys who have never done it, so it definitely brought all the guys together and it was nice to have it so early in the year,” he said.

The Warriors had the weekend off to rest up and they will return to home ice on Thursday night when they host the Prince Albert Raiders at Mosaic Place.

Moose Jaw will travel to P.A. on Saturday to complete the extended home-and-home.