Moose Jaw ready for clash with Portland in WHL final

The Moose Jaw Warriors find themselves four wins away from capturing the ever-elusive Ed Chynoweth Cup.

The WHL franchise is set to face the Portland Winterhawks in the league final.

“It’s exciting. I think it’s a different animal heading over to the other conference. We had the opportunity to play Portland earlier in the year and it was a heck of a hockey game. We’re expecting more of the same,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary.

The players are ready to get the WHL final underway as well. Game 1 is Friday in Portland.

In the only meeting between the two clubs this season, Moose Jaw emerged with a 4-3 win. “It’s the best time of the year. It’s a quick turnaround but we’re all excited for this week ahead,” said Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk.

This is the second time in club history the Warriors have reached the final, losing in four games to the Vancouver Giants in 2006.

The Warriors finished second in the WHL’s east division with a Regular Season record of 44-21-0-3.

Portland finished at the top of the American with a 48-15-4-1 record.

Moose Jaw earned this right after besting the Saskatoon Blades in seven games in the Eastern Conference final, with six of them going to overtime – a WHL record.

Portland beat the Prince George Cougars in six games to win the WHL Western Conference final series.

“It was a great series – Saskatoon is a good team and to go seven games with as many overtimes as we did, it was a tough series but you went through that to get here. It’s about the here and now and we certainly have higher aspirations than the third round and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” O’Leary said.

One of the mantras Moose Jaw has used during these playoffs has been “Why Not Us?” — a reference to them trying to do something no other Warriors team has done.

“It’s what we have been going with all playoffs – why not us? We do all the right things and we put ourselves in these situations. We got the guys who can win and I think that’s a good motto to have,” Mateychuk said.

A big story for the Warriors during this playoff run has been the team’s ability to come back in games and find ways to win in overtime.

“It shows this group doesn’t give up. We never quit on each other and that goes a long way in playoffs. It’s the reason we’re in this situation right now,” said forward Jagger Firkus. “It’s huge. Just having the faith we’re never out of games and can always come back – we don’t want to be in a situation where we have to come back. We want to keep a lead but if we are in that situation, we can do it.”

Firkus, who had a Canadian Hockey League-leading 126 points (61 goals, 65 assists), was named the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the league’s player of the year.

“It means a lot. Having an individual accomplishment like that. It shows a lot of my hard work and it means a lot for my confidence going forward,” Firkus said. “It’s just exciting. The entire year was just an exciting year. Moving on to the finals is my biggest goal right now – just worrying about how we can get Games 1 and 2 in Portland.”

That production has carried over to the playoffs as well with Firkus and Mateychuk both leading the league in scoring with 27 points in 16 games.

This trip to the final has been years in the making for this Warriors’ core, with many of them entering the league together as 16-year-olds.

“It means a ton. Been with these guys since we came into the league and got to create some good friendships, even with the coaching staff. Mark has been my coach for my whole career and it’s awesome the relationships that we have built and to have this opportunity to bring home this championship, it’s awesome,” Mateychuk said. “We knew coming into it, it was our year. That helped drive us to make sure we got there. We gave ourselves the opportunities to be in positions to win games and that’s what we have done all year and now we just need four more.”

O’Leary said the team is thankful for all the support they have gotten over the years.

“I know (the fans) deserve this. I think of the trying years when we were starting to build this and they were still showing up with the support. To see them take it to another level here as we move along, it’s special,” O’Leary said. “It’s what makes the Moose Jaw Warriors special – a community-owned team and it’s a tight-knit group. We’re just trying to do them proud.”