Warriors Prepare For Road Trip

Friday's 3-2 Warrior win over the Broncos wasn't the prettiest win, but it was still a notch in the win column.

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but the Broncos battled back with a first period goal and early third period power play marker to make it close.

Assistant coach Mike Vandenberghe says they played well at times, but learned a valuable lesson in the narrow win. "We took a couple steps backwards. We had a team on the ropes, we kept it in their zone for five minutes of the second period. We came out of that period, we dominated puck possession wise, and came out with eight shots, and that's ridiculous."

"Guys weren't ready to shoot when they were wide open in front of the net, they weren't puck focused," added Vandenberghe.

Vandenberghe says the game re-emphasized that they need to play the full 60 minutes. "If we want to be a championship team, we can't leave teams hanging around. Swift is a very hard working team and they have a deadly power play. You let them hang around and they're going to be right in the game at the end of the night and that's exactly what happened."

The game is being remembered by many for what happened before the opening draw. Broncos goalie Jon Groenheyde noticed a problem near the west peg of the net, and it resulted with an hour and 15 minute delay.

Forward Brett Lyon says it was a challenge to stay focused after sitting for so long waiting to start the game. "You get mentally prepared for the game and then something like that happens. It might take you off your game a little bit, you just have to try and stay focused for as long as you can and keep your eye on the game."

The Warriors will use today and tomorrow morning to get ready for a three game road trip into the Central division.

Assistant coach Mike Vandenberghe says it'll good for the guys to get on the road. "We haven't been on the road yet this year, and I think it's a chance for the guys to start to bond, and hopefully get an infusion of a couple of guys in the lineup."

The team leaves Tuesday, the play in Edmonton Wednesday, they have Thursday off, Friday they're in Red Deer, the trip wraps up Saturday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice.