The Moose Jaw Warriors got off to a hot start on Friday in Regina and went on to a 5-3 win over the Pats at the Brandt Centre.

Jayden Halbgewachs scored a pair of goals in the win to hit the 50-goal plateau for the second straight season, doing it faster than anyone else in Warrior history, needing just 47 games.

“We knew that we had to come into this game and play our best game and the first period showed that,” said Halbgewachs. “This win is pretty big for our team and just pushes us further ahead of Regina, which we want.”

After the Warriors opened the game with a four-goal first period, the game tightened up and goalie Brody Willms was forced to make some big saves as Regina fired 37 shots on net over the final two periods.

Willms, who was named first star, said this game was a big confidence booster, “It was big for our team for the two points we earned and it was also big for myself to see a lot of rubber and gain some confidence in making a lot of saves,” he said.

“They were getting bodies to the front and getting in shooting lanes, so it was tough to track those pucks coming in, but you just have to find ways to battle through guys.”

The Warriors stunned the sold out crowd at the Brandt Centre as they pushed the Pats hard in the opening period. They were aggressive on the fore-check, they were creating turnovers and second opportunities, and outshot Regina 21-8 in the period.

Moose Jaw picked up the game’s first goal when they landed on an early power play, Kale Clague took a shot from blue-line that was deflected by Halbgewachs for his WHL-leading 49th goal of the season.

Under two minutes later, Tristin Langan and Tate Popple fought the puck away from the Pats inside the Regina right circle and then fed a wide-open Vince Loschiavo on top of the crease where he tucked in his 14th goal.

Back on the power play with under five minutes left in the period, Dmitri Zaitsev snapped in his fifth of the year and then in the final minute of the period, Tanner Jeannot knocked in his 32nd goal off a beautiful passing play by Justin Almeida and Brayden Burke to make it 4-0 after one.

“We were moving our feet, we were tracking back hard and doing all the right things, all the cliche things that people think are small details that don’t really matter, but those are huge and they make a difference in the game,” said captain Brett Howden.

The second period was much tighter right from the start of the frame.

The Warriors killed off a power play to start the period, but the Pats went back on the man-advantage a few minutes later with Jesse Gabrielle converting on a shot in the slot to get Regina on the board.

Moose Jaw found their stride as the period went on and put good pressure on the Pats over the second half of the frame, but they were stifled by Regina goalie Ryan Kubic, who kept it a three-goal game going into the third.

Halbgewachs wrote his name into the Warriors’ history books just 3:35 into the third period when a bouncing puck found its way to his stick and he rifled it in for his second of the game to make it 5-1.

The goal was Halbgewachs’ 50th in 47 games, which made him the fastest Warrior to 50 goals in franchise history.  He also joins Theo Fleury and Kent Hayes as the only players in Warriors history to record back-to-back 50-goal seasons.

Regina pulled back within three with a power play goal from Josh Muhura at 8:53 and then in the final minute of regulation Mahura scored his second of the game to claw the Pats within one, but that would be as close as they would get.

Loschiavo had a goal and two points; and Brayden Burke and Kale Clague grabbed two assists each.

Special teams were huge for both teams as Moose Jaw finished 2-for-3 on the power play and Regina went 2-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Warriors will have Saturday off and then head to Saskatoon on Sunday to take on the Blades.  Catch all the action on Country 100 starting with the Westrum Lumber Timber Mart Pre-Game Show at 1:40 p.m.