After a tight hard fought battle on Saturday at Mosaic Place, the Moose Jaw Warriors' 2017 WHL Preseason ended with a narrow 2-1 overtime loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Justin Almeida scored his fourth of the preseason for the Warriors' lone goal, while goalie Brody Willms made 28 saves in his first action of the exhibition season.

Two minutes into the game, the Wheat Kings pressed inside the Warriors zone. Moose Jaw wasn’t able to clear the puck, which allowed Ty Ettinger to let a shot go from the blue-line that was deflected off of a Warriors and past Willms for the opening goal.

Moose Jaw tied the game at 16:17 when Branden Klatt led an odd-man rush across the Brandon blue-line. Klatt was able to flip the puck over to Justin Almeida driving through the middle of the ice where he hammered in his fourth of the preseason.

Throughout the second period, both teams pressed hard for the go-ahead goal. Brandon had an early territorial advantage which forced Willms to make a number of keys saves.

As the period went on. the Warriors offence started to pound the Brandon net, Moose Jaw out shot the Wheat Kings 19-8 in the frame, but Brandon overage goalie Logan Thompson kept the game tied at one.

In the third period, the teams battled for positioning and opportunities. They combined for 16 shots on net, but neither was able to beat the veteran goalies and the game went in to the overtime.

Just 95 seconds into the extra period the Wheat Kings created a turnover along the Warriors right boards. Braden Schneider controlled the puck along the wall and connected with Cole Reinhardt driving the Moose Jaw net where he put a shot past Willms to give Brandon the win.

Moose Jaw out shot Brandon 33-30. The Warriors were 0-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The Warriors finish the preseason with a record of 3-2-1.

The countdown to the start of the 2017 – 2018 Regular Season is now on for the Warriors. Coming up next weekend, they’ll open a new year with a home-and-home series against the Prince Albert Raiders which starts on Friday in northern Saskatchewan. The Warriors 2017 Home Opener will be Saturday, Sept. 23 in the back half of their weekend series against the Raiders.