The Moose Jaw Warriors fought hard in their final game of 2019 but they came up just short, falling 3-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings at Mosaic Place.

Moose Jaw had pressure throughout the period but they were limited to just four shots due to some key defensive plays by Brandon.

The Wheat Kings on the other hand, picked up the game’s first goal when Luka Burzan scored at 12:21 to finished a Brandon rush up the ice.

Brandon controlled a lot of the 2nd period, but late in the frame the Warriors flipped a switch and started to drive more pucks to the net which led to a 15-11 advantage on the shot clock in the period.

With five minutes left in the period, the Warriors brought the puck across the Brandon line and eventually set up Calder Anderson whose shot found the back on the net, his first WHL goal tied the game at one.

The teams continued to battle in the third period, Brandon tested Adam Evanoff with 18 shots in the third period and they were able to sneak one past at 17:20 when Luka Burzan scored his second of the game on a rebound.

Moose Jaw pushed in the third and created some quality looks at the Brandon net but they were not able to add to their total.  Instead, the Wheat Kings added an empty-net goal in the final minute to put the game out of reach.

Adam Evanoff made 37 saves for the Warriors while Ethan Kruger made 23 for the Wheat Kings.

Moose Jaw was 0-for-3 on the power-play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

The Warriors will open 2020 with a 3-game in 3-day road trip to Alberta on the weekend.

It starts Friday in Edmonton, then shifts to Red Deer on Saturday, and then finished in Calgary Sunday afternoon.

Catch Friday’s game from Rogers Place in northern Alberta on Country 100 starting with the PreGame Show at 7:40 p.m.