Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
For a third straight game, the Regina Pat Canadians and Moose Jaw Warriors needed overtime to find a winner in the best-of-five league final.
And for the first time, it was Moose Jaw coming out on top as Deklin Larmer scored 3:54 into the extra frame of Game 3 to give the Warriors a 3-2 win on Wednesday night in Regina, forcing a fourth game to be played on Friday night in Moose Jaw in the Saskatchewan Male Under-18 AAA Hockey League championship series.
“It’s got to be the biggest one that I’ve scored,” Larmer said after the game. “It felt awesome. And now just to take this momentum back home to Moose Jaw with our fans, and just how we’re rolling now off this high, I think it’s really good.”
After Regina won the first two games of the series 3-2 and 4-3 in overtime respectively, the Pat Canadians had a chance to clinch a second straight league championship on home ice on Wednesday night inside a jam-packed Cooperators Arena.
And while Regina — who swept Moose Jaw last year in the league final — had several high-quality chances throughout the game, Warriors goalie Steven Wawyrk stole the show with 45 saves on 47 shots.
“He’s been lights out all year,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber. “And tonight he was exceptional.
“He obviously gave us an opportunity to win, like he does every night, but he was really, really good tonight. And especially early on. That could have been a different game early there when they came out, and we were a little bit on our heels there to start the game.
“They pushed hard and he made some real big saves, and then obviously throughout the game, he did a heck of a job.”
For Wawryk, who played AAA in Notre Dame last year, he knows there’s more work to be done in the series if the Warriors want to defeat Regina.
“It’s a great feeling, but you can’t lose your head about you,” he said after the win. “We’ve still got two more games, and we’ve still got Friday to focus on.
“It’s going to be a packed barn and home ice advantage. It’s awesome playing in front of those fans, but we can’t get over our heads, because then we’ve got no chance.”
Wawryk, 18, made one of his best saves in the game just five minutes in as he made a point-blank stop on a Regina powerplay to keep the game scoreless before making another sprawling save minutes later.
However, the Pat Canadians were able to break through 13 minutes into the first period as Liam Pue faked a shot and made a move around Wawryk to put Regina up 1-0.
As the physical play ramped up between the two teams, Regina’s Ethan Young rang a shot off the cross bar before Moose Jaw tied it up with 1:05 left in the first period as Carson Park beat Pat Canadians goaltender Adam Muntain to make it 1-1.
In the second period, with Pue in the box for slashing, the Warriors took the lead as Ryan Gibbs blasted home a one timer to make it 2-1.
Wawryk then stoned Grady Hodgins on a breakaway before Muntain stopped a partial breakaway of his own moments later.
Near the end of the second, Moose Jaw had thought they scored on a deflection but the goal was immediately waved off after referees determined Maxon Johnston connected on the puck with a high stick.
In the third period, Pue tied the game 2-2 just as a Regina powerplay expired as he came from around the back of the net and wired one past Wawryk.
Then with just over a minute left, Regina’s Maddox Schultz made a nifty pass to Nathan Gardiner but Wawryk made another one of his outstanding saves to send the game to overtime.
And in the extra frame, Schultz was stopped by the glove of Wawryk on an early chance before the Pat Canadians sniper narrowly missed a breakaway pass moments later.
Shortly after that, Moose Jaw’s Riley Brown chipped the puck past Schultz along the blueline and broke up the right side before sliding it across to Larmer, who wired a puck past Muntain, who made 31 saves in the loss, to keep Moose Jaw in the series.
“Tough one for us,” said Schultz, who assisted on Pue’s first goal. “We obviously wanted to win it at home and we’re just going to have to go to Moose Jaw now.”
After keeping their season going with a win on Wednesday, the Warriors will look to do the same on Friday night in Moose Jaw, which would set up a deciding Game 5 back in Regina on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
“We don’t have any quit in that room,” said Weisgerber. “And I’ve always said we have a heck of a group and a great group of guys in there and they just don’t quit.
“Finally, we changed the script here in Game 3 and we’re excited to go back to Game 4 in our own barn and we should have real good support there at home.”
For the Pat Canadians, who finished atop the league with a 38-3-3 record this year after winning the national championship last season, they knew they were going to get a good effort from Moose Jaw in Game 3 and expect more of the same in Game 4 from a team that finished just behind them with a 37-5-2 record this year.
“This is exactly what we expect,” said Pat Canadians head coach Ryan Hodgins. “Two good teams going at it and that’s what happens.”
While this series will decide a league winner, both teams have already qualified for the Telus Cup Western Regionals which will be played Apr. 2-5 in Regina. The winner of that four-team event, which also features the Thunder Bay Kings (Northern Ontario champion) and the Manitoba champion, will then head to the Telus Cup national championship in Peterborough, Ont. from Apr. 20-26.
Note: Schultz and Pue, who both played 34 regular season games with the WHL’s Regina Pats this season, are expected to be in the Pat Canadians lineup on Friday night in Moose Jaw on the same night the Pats visit the Medicine Hat Tigers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. While their status for Saturday’s game will be determined after Friday night, the 16-year-olds are expected to be in the Pats’ lineup for Game 3 and 4 next Tuesday and Wednesday back in Regina.
