Eric Alarie snapped a 25-foot shot low to the stick side on Koen MacInnes just 36 seconds into overtime, giving the Moose Jaw Warriors a 4-3 victory over the Saskatoon Blades Saturday afternoon in Regina.

Alarie, who was the Tribe’s first round pick…22nd overall…in the 2018 W-H-L Bantam Draft, was in on all four Moose Jaw goals…scoring twice and adding two assists. The 16-year-old centre also had seven shots on goal and was +2. His effort out-shone that of MacInnes, the 17-year-old Bridge City Bunch rookie, who stopped 36 of 40 shots and was particularly sharp in the second period when the Warriors out-shot the Blue and Gold 17-2, yet only led 1-0 after 40 minutes.

“Koen played really well (Saturday),” said Blades’ head coach Mitch Love. “I don’t know if in the two years that I’ve been here that he’s gotten a chance to play a full hockey game. I was really impressed to see his performance. He definitely kept us in the hockey game.”

Ryder Korczak opened the scoring in the second period before momentum swung back and forth in the third frame. Tyler Ho and Tristen Robins put Saskatoon into the lead before the four-minute mark of the third. Alarie scored his first goal 29 seconds after Robins did to knot the score at 2-2. It looked like Moose Jaw won when Cameron Sterling notched a power play goal with 2:23 remaining in regulation time while freshman Bridge City Bunch defenceman Alex Ozar was serving the first half of a double high-sticking minor penalty. But, Ryan Hughes forced overtime with a short-handed goal with 63 seconds left in the third.

The victory was the first in three pre-season starts for the Warriors. The 1-0-1 Blue and Gold are off until Friday when they take on the defending W-H-L champion Prince Albert Raiders in Warman.