When you’re hot, you’re hot!

That’s how the Moose Jaw WINMAR AAA Warriors are feeling after a 4-0 win on Wednesday night over the Notre Dame Hounds.

The win was their 21st of the season, their sixth in a row, and improved their record in their last 10 games to 9-1.

Ryan Bain was spectacular in net stopping all 37 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season, his 14th win on the campaign, and his ninth consecutive victory.

“The guys in front of me played really well and made sure they blocked shots, kept the Hounds to the outside, and cleared pucks that popped out,” says Bain. It was a great team effort all around.”

The Warriors in all aspects of Wednesday’s game shut down every chance Notre Dame had by either blocking shots, keeping the Hounds to the outside, and not allowing many high-quality scoring chances.

Head coach, Trevor Weisgerber says that the above-mentioned defensive structure was the basis for their pre-game meeting.

“We need to have a better start and that’s exactly what they did,” explains Weisgerber. “It’s been the theme and the guys have really bought into doing the little things. We have worked in practice lately that our defense is staying up in the play and closing those gaps. They have done a really good job here.”

Moose Jaw came ready to play on Wednesday night from the opening faceoff.

Off that opening draw, Liam Fitzpatrick was sprung on a breakaway after a deflected pass from Grady Hoffman. Fitzpatrick would put it backhand over the blocker of Mariko Bercier to make the game 1-0, 11 seconds into the game.

Hoffman and Caleb Potter picked up assists on the opening goal.

Fitzpatrick’s goal was his 33rd of the season and extended his point streak to 17 games with 35 points in that span.

Moose Jaw would not let their foot off the gas after opening the scoring. Grady Hoffman would extend the Warriors’ lead to 2-0, 3:28 later.

Fitzpatrick would throw the puck on the net and Hoffman would redirect it perfectly past the sliding Hounds goalie for his 19th of the season. Cooper Buhay would get the secondary assist.

The hectic first five minutes would slow down and the 2-0 lead was kept after 20 minutes.

Notre Dame led in shots after one period 13-10.

In the second period, there was only one goal. Just over six minutes into the second period on a two-on-one Jake Briltz would try to slide it across to Connor Miller but it slid through the legs of Bercier for the 3-0 lead. That would be Briltz’s 14th goal of the season.

The goal was unassisted.

That would be all the scoring in the second period, as the Warriors were in full control 3-0 after 40 minutes.

Though the Hounds were down on the scoreboard they led in shots through two periods 23-21.

The Warriors would give Notre Dame nothing in the third period, keeping the pressure on and controlling all aspects of the game.

Moose Jaw would ice the game late in the third period. After a nice passing play, Dylan Duzan would one-time it in the low slot and beat Bercier for his 13th of the season to make the game 4-0, with 6:06 left.

Kanyan Unger and Grady Hoffman picked up the assists on the goal.

That is how the game would end with the Warriors taking down the Hounds 4-0. The win also secured the 3-1 regular season series win against Notre Dame.

The final shot count was 37-29 for the Hounds.

Hoffman picked up three points on the night with a goal and two assists. Fitzpatrick had a two-point night in the big win.

The win helped them improve to 21-16-0-4 on the season and they are now tied with the Hounds for 6th place with 46 points. Moose Jaw is now only one point back of Warman for fifth place.

Moose Jaw will try to continue their winning ways this weekend, as they are on the road in Yorkton for a two-game series with the Maulers. The first game will be on Saturday night at the Melville Communiplex at 7:00 p.m. That series will wrap up that series on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Westland Arena.