Moose Jaw Warriors prepare for playoff battle with Brandon Wheat Kings

The post-season is just around the corner in the WHL, and the Moose Jaw Warriors feel like they have the right ingredients to make a deep playoff run.

The Warriors will take on the Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round of the playoffs.

The two division rivals last faced off during the 2016 playoffs when Brandon defeated Moose Jaw 4-1 in the second round.

During this year’s regular season, however, it couldn’t have been more even. Both teams finished with three wins against one another, plus one win coming in either overtime or a shootout.

The Warriors’ Jagger Firkus has been red-hot all season, leading the league with 126 points. He hopes this is the year the team makes a championship push.

“There’s a lot that excites me about our team,” Firkus said after practice Tuesday. “I think the guys we grabbed at the trade deadline make our team a lot better. The depth we have throughout our lineup is probably the best part about our team — the ability to roll all three lines and compete with every other team.”

Matthew Savoie is one of those notable players acquired at the trade deadline. He has 47 points in 23 games with the Warriors.

Mix in other potential first-round NHL draft picks like Brayden Yager and Denton Mateychuk and the Warriors have a lot of firepower.

“Last year with the group we had in Winnipeg it was similar,” Savoie said. “We had a really special group that I was with for a number of years but it was time to turn the page and I think this is a group to really do that with and move on with and really go after it with.”

Head coach Mark O’Leary said the team has been preparing hard for the Wheat Kings but said after competing against them over eight times already this season, it will come down to who wants it more.

“They’re very good off the rush, and we can’t turn pucks over in bad areas through the red zone and really it’s about playing the right way and finishing on top of them,” O’Leary said. “But we don’t want to get into a track meet because we know they’re pretty good at that kind of hockey.”

The third-seeded Warriors will enjoy home-ice advantage for the first two games of the series, which go this Friday and Saturday from the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

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