Exhibition Game 1
The Moose Jaw Warriors have their first pre-season game under their belt. They started off the preseason with a bang, matching up against their hated rivals, the Regina Pats.
This year's rivalry with the Queen City sisters is a little more intense as former Warriors head coach from the past 3 seasons, Curtis Hunt, left Moose Jaw this summer and became head coach of the Pats. To go along with that, his replacement, Parry Shockey, coached the Pats 4 years ago and was fired at the start of the season when the Pats were hosting the Memorial Cup. A little extra fuel thrown on to an already raging fire.
In all levels of sports there are great rivalries. There's the Yankees vs. the Red Sox; Lakers vs. Kings (or Celtics for you old-school sports fans); Leafs/Senators; Cubs/Cardinals; the list goes on.
In Junior hockey, the Warriors/Pats is where it's at. I have been to many sporting events, both at the professional and amateur levels, and not once have I experienced an atmosphere that comes even close to comparing to a Pats/Warriors game at the Civic Centre in Moose Jaw.
Yesterday's exhibition season opener saw 1700 fans come out to the rink on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Seeing as we've hardly had any sunshine this summer and that most regular season games draw that number of people, I'd say Moose Javians are primed for the hockey season.
The game, as far as exhibition games go, was very entertaining. Moose Jaw scored with under 10 seconds left to win the game 6-5 and send the 1700 fans home happy (with the exception of the small handful of Pats faithful who made the 45 minute drive to Moose Jaw).
There were some good plays mixed in with a lot of sloppy plays. There were some big hits, a couple fights, some good saves and a surprisingly high level of intensity and competitiveness for a pre-season game. It was easy to see that players on both teams had an understanding of this rivalry, even though many had never directly experienced it before yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday's game exemplified everything I love about junior hockey. It was a good, clean, hard-fought game showcasing two teams that were giving it their all for a victory.
All in all I would say it was a very promising start to what will hopefully be another exciting season of WHL hockey.
The Warriors play their next exhibition home game on Saturday night against the Brandon Wheat Kings, looking to bump their record to 2-0. Should be a gooder.
This year's rivalry with the Queen City sisters is a little more intense as former Warriors head coach from the past 3 seasons, Curtis Hunt, left Moose Jaw this summer and became head coach of the Pats. To go along with that, his replacement, Parry Shockey, coached the Pats 4 years ago and was fired at the start of the season when the Pats were hosting the Memorial Cup. A little extra fuel thrown on to an already raging fire.
In all levels of sports there are great rivalries. There's the Yankees vs. the Red Sox; Lakers vs. Kings (or Celtics for you old-school sports fans); Leafs/Senators; Cubs/Cardinals; the list goes on.
In Junior hockey, the Warriors/Pats is where it's at. I have been to many sporting events, both at the professional and amateur levels, and not once have I experienced an atmosphere that comes even close to comparing to a Pats/Warriors game at the Civic Centre in Moose Jaw.
Yesterday's exhibition season opener saw 1700 fans come out to the rink on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Seeing as we've hardly had any sunshine this summer and that most regular season games draw that number of people, I'd say Moose Javians are primed for the hockey season.
The game, as far as exhibition games go, was very entertaining. Moose Jaw scored with under 10 seconds left to win the game 6-5 and send the 1700 fans home happy (with the exception of the small handful of Pats faithful who made the 45 minute drive to Moose Jaw).
There were some good plays mixed in with a lot of sloppy plays. There were some big hits, a couple fights, some good saves and a surprisingly high level of intensity and competitiveness for a pre-season game. It was easy to see that players on both teams had an understanding of this rivalry, even though many had never directly experienced it before yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday's game exemplified everything I love about junior hockey. It was a good, clean, hard-fought game showcasing two teams that were giving it their all for a victory.
All in all I would say it was a very promising start to what will hopefully be another exciting season of WHL hockey.
The Warriors play their next exhibition home game on Saturday night against the Brandon Wheat Kings, looking to bump their record to 2-0. Should be a gooder.
posted by Mike at 11:43 AM
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