Warriors defeat Blades 3-1 in Game 3 of WHL eastern conference final

The Moose Jaw Warriors used a sellout home crowd to their advantage on Tuesday.

The Warriors beat the Saskatoon Blades 3-1 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre to take a 2-1 series lead in the WHL’s eastern conference final. It’s the first time two Saskatchewan teams have met this far into the WHL playoffs in 31 years.

“That’s a huge game for us,” said Moose Jaw goaltender Jackson Unger.

Unger was asked about his performance late in the game where he made several phenomenal saves.

“In the third period, I stood tall when I needed to and made the saves to keep us in the game and got the result we were looking for,” he said.

Unger said as the games go on, the Warriors are getting closer to where they want to be but they know how dangerous Saskatoon is.

“Every game from now on is the biggest game of the year and (the biggest game of) some of our careers and I think there’s everything to play for. We cannot let off the gas no matter what,” he said.

The Blades, who finished the regular season atop the standings, got the scoring started first with Grayden Siepmann putting a goal past Unger. It was Siepmann’s first goal of the season.

The Warriors evened things up with a goal from Atley Calvert in the second period, then took the lead in the third with Martin Rysavy putting the puck past Evan Gardner.

Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk put the game away with an empty-netter.

Unger made 31 saves in the win, while Gardner stopped 29 for the Blades.

The two teams have been evenly matched so far this series, with the first two games going to overtime in Saskatoon.

Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said he was pleased with his team’s start.

“Anytime we’re talking about a start, it’s got nothing to do with the goals for or goals against – it’s about playing the right way and then just trying to sustain it and I thought tonight was a good example of that,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary said his team played with energy, enthusiasm and with structure.

Meanwhile, despite scoring first, Blades head coach Brennan Sonne criticized his team’s start to the game.

“I didn’t like our first 40 minutes. Our players didn’t either,” he said.

“It was just a billion turnovers and (a) lack of dig-in especially in the offensive zone. Just one-and-done, one-and-done, one-and-done. I thought it was better in the third.”

Sonne said he knows his team can come back into games from behind, but they have to play better throughout the whole thing and win puck battles.

Game 4 will be played on Wednesday night in Moose Jaw.

–With files from 650 CKOM’s Daniel Reech