MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Moose Jaw Warriors ran into a Roger McQueen problem on Friday night in Brandon.
The Wheat Kings standout scored four times, including a natural hat trick in the third period, to lead his squad to a 5-2 victory in the Western Hockey League season opener for both teams.
“I think we can do a whole lot better than that (against McQueen), he will get his looks and he’s a hell of a player, and even last year down the stretch I thought he was their best player,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary.
“But I just think we didn’t manage pucks as well as we could tonight and there were time we can check a bit quicker, but for me it was the missed execution with the puck that led to too much zone time for them and guys like Roger can make you pay.”
McQueen did his damage from all over the ice -- in close, hard angles, the slot -- and was reminiscent of what the likes of Jagger Firkus and Brayden Yager put together when they were rolling last season.
“We’ve seen that before, and saying that, we had looks of our own we didn’t cash in on and the name of the game was puck management,” O’Leary said. “They were a little bit crisper with their execution and were able to get all kinds of looks to the inside while we were a little too much to the outside. Those are all things we’ll be looking to fix tomorrow.”
After putting together a solid showing through the preseason, Warriors defenceman Connor Schmidt scored Moose Jaw’s first goal of the regular season 6:09 into the first period. The 17-year-old broke in from centre ice before using a Brandon defenceman as a screen and putting a shot home low glove side for the early 1-0 lead.
Brandon got one back on a high-sticking double minor to Owen Berge early in the second, with McQueen finding space in front of the net and putting a shot home five minutes into the period.
The Wheat Kings carried the play as the period continued and were outshooting the Warriors 10-0 at the midway point of the frame, but Lynden Lakovic would put Moose Jaw ahead nonetheless. He gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead with 7:45 to play and on their first shot of the period, putting a shot from a hard angle short side on Brandon goaltender Ethan Eskit.
The Wheat Kings tied the game on a delayed penalty with 4:21 gone in the third, and it was McQueen again, this time finishing off a solid passing play with Quinn Mantei and Nigel Boehm with a perfect shot short side over Jackson Unger’s shoulder.
McQueen then finished off his hat trick, pouncing on a rebound off a Marcus Nguyen shot in close and putting a quick shot top shelf, giving Brandon their first lead of the game with 9:41 to play in the third.
The Warriors pulled Unger for the extra attacker with 1:50 to play, but McQueen would finish his night with an empty netter, putting him on track for 272 goals this season.
Rylan Roersma added another empty netter with five seconds to play to finish scoring on the night.
All in all, O’Leary wasn’t overly disappointed with the loss, especially given how things are still being sorted out with lines and match-ups in the earliest possible part of the season.
“There were some guys that looked really good tonight, and as we went along we jumbled things for different looks on the defensive side of the puck and when we had to push for some more offence,” he said. “There were some young guys who did a good job and did what they needed to do, being ready when their number is called.”
Now the team’s attention turns to their home opener on Saturday night against the Prince Albert Raiders. After their WHL Championship banner raising, it’ll be time to get right back to work and look for their first win of the season.
“There are going to be nights like this where it’s hard and you hope the leadership of the guys coming back from last year, they know what to do and how to punch back and we have to get ready to do that here right away,” O’Leary said.
Game time is 7:05 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
