A long off-season comes to an end this week as the Moose Jaw Warriors players return to the Friendly City.

The team will open the 2023 Training Camp on Wednesday as 75 returning players and prospects meet at the Moose Jaw Events Centre for registration and fitness testing.

On Thursday, the players will hit the ice for the first time as they build towards another strong playoff run this season.

“Once we do our exit meeting at the end of the year, get the players out, we wait for about a week and then start planning for training camp,” Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger.

“The players need to come in and hopefully they put their work in during the summer and they’re ready to work hard here to try to make our hockey club better.”

The Warriors are heading into the third full season with Ripplinger and Head Coach Mark O’Leary leading the organization.

During that time, the Warriors have developed strong philosophies and training camp is the beginning of the process of implementing them.

“It’s just reestablishing our habits,” O’Leary said. “For a lot of these players, they’ve been here in Moose Jaw for a long enough time to understand how we want to play. Things change here and there in terms of systems and structure, but the habits remain the same.”

With established leadership in the front office and coaching staff, as well as among the players, O’Leary said that makes hitting the ground running in camp much easier.

“That’s the thing about junior hockey is you want that carry over every year,” he said. “Certainly if the coaches are the same, a lot of the same language is used each and every year and your leadership group helps with that.”

After making it into the second round of the WHL Playoffs in the past two seasons, the Warriors have their sights set on more once again this season.

Ripplinger said it starts in training camp.

“I believe we have a good team here, but we have to put the work in to be a better team,” he said.

The Warriors open the on-ice portion of training camp on Thursday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. All on-ice sessions are open to the public.

Training camp wraps up on Sunday with the annual Black/White Intrasquad Game at noon.

Camp Schedule
Thursday, August 31
9:00am-9:45am – Rookie Camp – Team 1 Practice
10:00am-10:45am – Rookie Camp – Team 2 Practice
11:00am-12:00pm – Rookie Camp – Goalie Session
12:30pm-2:30pm – Main Camp – Practice
4:30pm-6:30pm – Rookie Camp – Scrimmage 1

Friday, September 1
9:00am-10:30am – Rookie Camp – Scrimmage 2
11:00am-12:00pm – Main Camp – Practice
1:15pm-2:15pm – Rookie Camp – Goalie Session
2:30pm-4:00pm – Rookie Camp – Scrimmage 3
5:30pm-7:00pm – Main Camp – Scrimmage (3-on-3)

Saturday, September 2
9:00am-10:30am – Main Camp – Scrimmage 1
11:00am-12:00pm – Main Camp – Practice
2:00pm-3:00pm – Main Camp – Practice
3:30pm-5:00pm – Main Camp – Scrimmage 2

Sunday, September 3
10:30am-11:30am – Main Camp – Practice
12:00pm-3:00pm – Black/White Intrasquad Game

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