Warriors return to Kamloops, hope to limit Stankoven

This year, Moose Jaw is holding its weight in a division where the Winnipeg Ice leads with a 21-2 record.

“There’s a lot of skill,” said head coach Mark O’Leary about his team. “We’ve got some guys who can create offense and from the backend as well. We have a group that’s come a long way. They’ve grown up together, been through some tough times, and now we’re in year three of the rebuild so we’re looking to make a little bit of noise.”

The Blazers will be keying in on a couple guys, most notably Jagger Firkus, a second-round pick of the Seattle Kraken in this year’s NHL Draft who’s on a 15-game point streak, collecting 10 goals and 21 points during the run.

He leads Moose Jaw in scoring this season with 12 goals and 14 assists.

“I think I’ve been playing pretty good. I don’t think I’m at the highest level of my game right now, but I’ve been playing good,” said Firkus. “I can’t be mad at my game right now. I’ve been doing what I need to do and there’s lots of room to get better, but at same time I’m happy with my game right now.” O’Leary added, “I don’t think that’s any secret. He’s probably our most skilled guy up front. He creates a lot of our offense. With him and [Ryder] Korczak and [Brayden] Yager, when they’re on the ice there’s usually something happening.”

As there is when Logan Stankoven is on the ice for Kamloops. The Warriors have their eyes firmly set on the Blazers’ leading scorer who is ninth in WHL scoring with 30 points in 14 games but second in the league in points per game with 2.14 versus Connor Bedard’s 2.18 points a game.

“If you watch them play, we just talked about our top guys, Logan seems to be the guy things go through,” noted O’Leary. “It’s not just his work in the offensive zone, but you watch his diligence without the puck and the work that goes in there, you just see a pro. We have guys that can play that way, but that’s the test and we’re looking forward to it.”

Firkus added, “He’s for sure one guy that you have circled that you want to be playing good against and you want to show you’re a good player as well. I think that’s what I’m going to go out and do tonight.”

It’s the Warriors’ first visit to the Sandman Centre in nearly four years. They’re trying to ensure it’s not their last this season, hoping to join the Blazers in the Memorial Cup in May.

by Chad Klassen

Warriors return to Kamloops, hope to limit Stankoven

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