There was a familiar face on the opposition bench during Tuesday's game between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Tri-City Americans at Mosaic Place.

Warriors Hall of Fame inductee Kelly Buchberger is in his first season as a head coach in the Western Hockey League and faced off with the team that he played with for the first time on Tuesday.

"We had a lot of good memories back in the 80s, Moose Jaw developed a lot of hockey players," said Buchberger.

The 51-year-old played two seasons for the Warriors from 1984-86, registering 26 goals and 65 points in 123 games before going on to play 1,182 games in the National Hockey League, mostly with the Edmonton Oilers.

His number 24 hangs in the rafters at Mosaic Place as one of four jerseys retired by the Warriors' organization.

Buchberger said his players were quick to point out the jersey during their morning skate on Tuesday, "They pointed out to me and were well aware," he said.

Following his retirement from the NHL in 2004, Buchberger stepped behind the bench, serving as the head coach of the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League before joining the Oilers for six seasons as an assistant.

Buchberger made the move to the WHL this season looking to gain some more head coaching experience.

"I want to get back to being a head coach, whoever knows what's going to happen, but I'm here and committed for 'X' number of years and I just hope that we find a way to win and when you win, everyone gets success," said Buchberger.

The Langenburg, Sask. product added that he's enjoying being back in the league where his hockey career started, but it will take some time to get used to riding the bus again.

"When I played for Moose Jaw, the road trips here aren't bad compared to some of the road trips we have, but no complaints, just go with the flow just like everybody else does," Buchberger said.

The Americans have put together a strong start under Buchberger’s guidance this season. Despite losing some key players from last year's team, they're sitting at 11-6-0-0 after Tuesday night's loss to the Warriors.

Buchberger said he's seeing some good progress from the team through 17 games, "We're three lines solid and our goaltending has been pretty good throughout the whole year. We have a lot of improvement in different situations and for us, we just try to get better every night and we try to get two points, we're a simple team," he said.

"Our young guys are developing, it's been amazing how much they've changed in three months and got stronger. We have a good leadership group within our team and they show the way."

Buchberger and the Americans continue their East Division road trip in Swift Current on Wednesday night.