It was a battle of the bottom-two teams in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, but the Moose Jaw Generals asserted themselves in a 5-2 win over the Notre Dame Argos on Thursday night at Mosaic Place.
Forward Casey McDonald led the attack for Moose Jaw in the win, registering four assists.
“We played a pretty good 40 minutes and then in the third period, when we were up by four, we kind of let off, but overall, we played a good game,” said McDonald after the win.
After snapping their 13-game losing skid last Thursday, the Generals were shutout on Saturday by the Saskatoon Contacts. They had the offence working in this one however, firing 57 shots on the Argos’ net in the win.
“We were getting pucks to the net and bodies to the net and that’s where we were creating success,” said McDonald.
Moose Jaw product Bryan Thomson was between the pipes for Argos and turned away 52 shots in the loss.
“I got quite a few shots in the game, but the team played well, we got some good chances in the offensive zone, just couldn’t finish,” said Thomson.
The first period was scoreless, but the Generals wasted no time getting on the board in the second period as Jaxon Georget scored a power play goal only 2:20 into the frame.
Georget added another power play goal about eight minutes later to make it 2-0 for Moose Jaw and Ben Wourms-Rowe followed that up with a goal of his own only 55 seconds later.
With 34 remaining in the middle period, Skyler Sangster found the back of the net to make it 4-0 for the Generals.
Notre Dame struck back in the third period, starting with a power play goal from Oldrich Matejka midway through the frame. Blake Rasmuson cut the lead down to two with 2:37 to play, but Cody Davis finished off nice passing play only 1:17 later to give the Generals some more breathing room to finish off the win.
McDonald said this game was a good example of the progress that the Generals have been making late in this lost season.
“We’re making really progress, we’re gelling nice together and we’re finding guys that play well together,” said McDonald.
15-year-old goalie Ethan Hein turned away 30 shots for his second win of the season between the pipes for the Generals. Moose Jaw was also 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill in the win.
The Generals will now head out to Wilcox on Sunday for a rematch with the Argos.
MJ’s Thomson Busy This Season
Bryan Thomson is in his first season at the midget AAA level and he’s been busy between the pipes for the Argos.
Thomson has faced an average of 32.2 shots per game this season. He said that’s going to help his development in the long run.
“It’s going to help a lot, I’m never going to complain about getting this many shots, it will help in the long run for when I don’t see as many shots,” said Thomson.
The 15-year-old Moose Jaw product has a 1-18-6 record on the season with a 4.08 goals against average and a 0.893 save percentage on the last place squad.
He said despite the record not being what he’d hoped, he’s been able to grow a lot as a player over the course of this season.
“I’ve gotten faster, stronger and quicker, I adjusted to the league well and have been playing my game,” he said. “I was a bit shaky at first, but I adjusted well to the jump from bantam to midget and I’m doing as well as I can.”
Thomson was a second round pick of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. He represented Saskatchewan at the 2017 WHL Cup.
He said his focus going into the offseason will be on building up his game to the point that he’s ready to challenge for a spot on the Hurricanes next season.
“I just need to keep getting quicker and stronger,” Thomson said. “It would be special to play junior and that’s my goal.”
The Argos host the Saskatoon Contacts on Saturday and then the Generals on Sunday. They will finish the regular season next Wednesday at home against the Yorkton Maulers.
Fri, Apr 19, 3:55 PM
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