Warriors Learn From Tough Loss

Rocky Balboa said it best, “It's not how hard you get hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep getting up.”

That could apply to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Thursday night as they were roughed up in Regina by the Pats, falling 9-1 at the Cooperators Centre.

The Warriors played with a young lineup, five 18-year-olds were their oldest players, against an older Regina team – one 20-year-old, three 19-year-olds and many with WHL experience – and the score reflected that.

“I'm not worried about the scored, I just told them that all you do in a game like that is you look in the mirror and if you tried a little too hard, or if you tried to make too many plays and it didn't work, no big deal,” said first-year head coach Tim Hunter after the game.

Regina controlled the play throughout the game as they peppered 16-year-old goalie Brody Willms with 65 shots, he courageously stopped 56 of them, many of which were quality scoring chances.

“It was good for the team, we grew together being in a situation like that,” said Willms, who was re-assigned to the Okanagan Hockey Academy after the game. “Having a lot of shots like that was fun for me, even though it was quite a few goals against. I feel like I was able to make a lot of good saves and at least try to keep the team in there.”

“We were outmatched by an older team in a rookie game and Willmsy stood in there, played hard, not one time did he look to the bench to be pulled and he knew he was going to play the whole game,” added Hunter.

It's always said that you can learn more about your team from a loss than from a win, and the Warriors were able to see the character that their roster has. Despite the score becoming more and more lopsided as the game progressed, the players didn't pack it in.

Noah Gregor scored Moose Jaw's lone goal midway through the third period, it was his second in as many preseason games. That made it 7-1 and Regina would add two more late for the 9-1 win.

“It's about did you compete, did you care and did you try to do the right thing, and 98 per cent of the guys did that,” said Hunter. “I have no worries about it at all.”

Turnovers were the story of the game for Moose Jaw as they coughed up the puck on a regular basis trying to move out of their zone and go on the attack. The defence struggled with the pressure that Regina's forwards were putting on them and that led to multiple odd-man rushes.

“We got exposed a little bit and it's a learning experience,” said Hunter. “The score means nothing, it's not in the standings. If they've got smiles on their face because they won, good for them. We're disappointed because we lost because we didn't do things right enough long enough.”

The game was back and forth early with both teams getting scoring chances. Regina got on the board first when import defenceman Sergey Zborovsky beat Willms over the shoulder, the only goal that Willms would like back.

“I think I was a bit more solid, more comfortable being in my second game this season,” said Willms. “This is definitely going to help my development going forward, being in a situation like we were tonight, just learning how to handle it and move forward.”

Moose Jaw had a great opportunity to tie the game right after that with a four-minute power play, but they couldn't capitalize and Regina took a 1-0 lead into the break.

They exploded for four goals in the second and then added four more in the third for the blow out win.

16-year-old rookie centre Sam Steel led the charge for Regina with two goals and four points, while 19-year-old Connor Gay – playing on a line with Steel – had one goal and three assists. Jacob Elmer also added two goals.

The Warriors will get plenty of time to correct their errors from the game as they don't see game action again until next Friday when they open a home-and-home series with the Broncos in Swift Current.

Game Notes... Willms and 16-year-old forward Ryan Bowen were both re-assigned after the game... There were 722 fans on hand for the game at the Cooperators Centre in Regina.