Unger Ready to Take the Next Step in Second Season with the Warriors
September 7, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Moose Jaw Warriors News Release
It’s not easy for a 16-year-old goaltender to make the jump into the Western Hockey League, it’s even more difficult when it comes a few months into the season.
Jackson Unger made that transition look easy last season as made the jump from midget AAA to the Moose Jaw Warriors in November.
Unger got stronger as the season went on and secured some big wins for the Warriors late in the season.
“I definitely got more comfortable out there, I found my game more and more as the season went on and then in the end, I thought I finished really strong too,” Unger said after practice on Wednesday.
In 18 appearances during the 2021-22 season, Unger posted an 8-7-0-0 record with a 3.60 goals against average and a 0.891 save percentage. He picked up one shutout as well.
Unger shared the net with 20-year-old goalie Carl Tetachuk and he said the veteran helped him settle into the WHL.
“Teddy last year was great to learn from,” he said. “I had a lot of experience from him and to get some games under my belt, even some playoff experience was great.”
Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said the coaching staff’s confidence in Unger grew as the season went on to the point that they trusted him to go in during the postseason.
“There’s some big moments that he had last year and gave us some wins that we really needed, so those things aren’t forgotten and we’d love to take another step from there,” he said.
Unger had a big summer as he made Team Canada for the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and won a gold medal alongside teammate Brayden Yager.
The Calgary product served as the third goalie for Canada and didn’t see any game action, but said he took a lot away from the experience, regardless.
“That was awesome, we won gold, it was great, didn’t get to play, which is tough, but it was still a great experience,” he said.
“All those guys are superstars, they’re all going into really good careers and to have that experience was once in a lifetime, so it was awesome,” he said.
Unger is heading into his draft year and will looking to impress NHL scouts this season.
He said he focused on improving his game all around this offseason.
“I really focused on little things like arm details, gloves and then coming into the season, consistency is going to be really important,” Unger said.
Unger will be paired with another 20-year-old goalie again this season after the Warriors acquired Connor Ungar [No relation] from the Red Deer Rebels in a draft day trade.
Moose Jaw also added 18-year-old goalie Justen Maric in that same trade.
Unger said he’s connected with the older Ungar already at training camp.
“It’s been great, we have lots of similarities and then some coincidences between our games and our careers, so it’s been cool,” he said.
Unger believes the duo can be a strong tandem for the Warriors this season.
“His 20-year-old year, he’s going to have a great year, he had one last season, so it’s going to be a really good season for us,” he said.
Goaltending will be key if the Warriors plan on living up to the high expectations on this year’s squad.
Unger said he’s expecting a big year for the team.
“WE can make a run for it for sure,” he said. “We’ll have a great playoff run, we’ll lead up to that with strong games and finish hard.”
Before the Warriors can do that, they have four preseason games on tap over the next two weeks, starting with a home-and-home against the Swift Current Broncos this weekend.
Moose Jaw hosts Swift Current on Friday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Season tickets are available now at the Warriors’ office and single game tickets go on sale, starting on Friday.
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