ESTEVAN -- With their season on the line, the Moose Jaw WINMAR Warriors were able to come through with one of their biggest wins of the campaign on Saturday night in Estevan.
The Warriors scored three goals in each of the first and second periods and would go on to a 7-2 victory over the Estevan Great North Bears in Game 4 of the Sask Male AAA Hockey League quarter-final series.
As a result, the best-of-five series is now tied at two games apiece, with the fifth and deciding game set for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The Warriors took a 3-2 victory in the series opener on Mar. 2 in Moose Jaw, but the Bears came back to win 6-1 on Mar. 4 in Estevan before taking the series lead with a 4-3 win back in Moose Jaw on Thursday, setting up Saturday’s contest.
Things were close in the opening period of Game 4, as Marek McIvor, Ryan Gibbs and Keaton Lesperance all scored for the Warriors in the opening frame, with the latter two goals coming on the power play 1:09 apart late in the period.
Estevan had goals from Brendan Jones and Boston Schmidt, though, and Moose Jaw would take a 3-2 lead out of the opening frame.
The rest of the game was all Warriors, beginning with a three-goal second period that saw Gibbs score his second of the game to go along with single markers from Noah Thul and Kierin Osberg.
Max Fuessel then scored the lone goal of the third period, and the Warriors had their crucial 7-2 win.
Fuessel, Lesperance and Gibbs all had three points in the contest, while Jonah Pinel and Maxon Johnston added two assists each.
Luke McKechnie stopped 20 shots in the Moose Jaw net to earn the win, while Brady Carr had 24 saves for Estevan.
Two first round series are already over, with the Regina Pat Canadians taking a three-game sweep over the Prince Albert Mintos and the Saskatoon Blazers doing the same to the Tisdale Trojans.
The Warman Wildcats took a 7-4 win over the Swift Current Legionnaires on Saturday night to tie their series at two games each. Game five is Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Swift Current Innovationplex.
