Warriors defenceman Tyler Brown delivers a pass during Saturday's 7-1 win over Saskatoon at Mosaic Place. (Photo: Cory Kerr Photography)

Tyler Brown is seeing his role increase with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the early part of his second WHL season.

The 17-year-old defenceman played in 52 games last season, but his ice time is limited. This year however, Brown has been a key part of the Warriors' defensive group through the first four games of the season.

After Austin Adam went down with an upper body injury during Saturday's 7-1 win over the Saskatoon Blades, Brown saw his ice time jump and seemed to thrive, while taking on a bigger role for the Warriors.

“I just felt more at ease out there,” said Brown. “I was comfortable and confident with the puck when moving it.”

In four games this season, Brown has almost matched his point total from his rookie season with two assists. He had four assists in 52 games last season.

There has been a noticeable jump in Brown's play to start the season. He's been more solid defensively and more willing to use his skating ability to jump into the play on the offensive end.

He said that just comes from being more comfortable at the WHL level.

“I feel much strong and more confident in making plays out there,” Brown said. “I'm just playing my game now.”

The Olympia, Washington native took part in the US under-18 development camp over the summer. He followed that up with a strong training camp and has carried that over into the regular season where he's posted an even plus/minus rating through four games, which is impressive as the Warriors have allowed 19 goals in those games.

Saturday's win was the first of the season for the Warriors, but also provided a nice bounce back effort for the defencemen after they had a tough game during Friday's 7-1 loss to Regina.

Brown said it was just minor areas that needed correcting in their game and they addressed those quickly after the game, which allowed them to adjust and play a much better game the next night.

“We just kept our feet moving and took better angles into the boards,” said Brown. “We took the one-on-ones more seriously with our angles... It was a quick turnaround, so we just wiped our mind clean and focused on the game plan for (Saturday) and it worked out.”

There was a lot of firsts for the Warriors on Saturday with many players picking up their first goal of the season, or their WHL careers, and the team also got head coach Tim Hunter his first win behind the Warriors' bench.

“It was good to get the first out of the way,” said Brown. “Now we know how to execute and what it takes to win, so hopefully every game going forward we stick to that game plan and can do it.”

The Warriors have a busy weekend ahead as they will take on the Red Deer Rebels on Thursday to kick off a three-in-three which continues on Friday in Prince Albert and wraps up against the Tri-City Americans on Saturday at Mosaic Place.