The excitement for this year’s Moose Jaw Warriors’ season is evident the moment you walk into Mosaic Place.
The veteran players have been arriving in town over the past few weeks and with each new arrival, the excitement continues to grow.
“There’s a lot of hype around our team this year, we have a chance to do something special, that’s exciting to see,” said 19-year-old forward Noah Gregor.
The Warriors will return much of their roster that won 42 games last season, including the team’s top-five scorers. With that much fire power returning and the expected growth of some younger players, the Warriors are expected to challenge for the East Division title and much more.
The players know that’s the case, but don’t want to look too far ahead.
“Team morale is real high, everyone knows that we’ve got a really good team coming back here and we’ve got a chance to do some damage in the league, so we’re excited,” said 20-year-old forward Brayden Burke.
“We can’t take any days for granted, every day here we’ve got to come to work and get ready for the season. We’ve got the skill already, but if we come in here and work harder than any other team then we’re going to get off to a good start.”
Burke joined the Warriors via a trade with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last Nov. and went on to produce just as the team expected when they made the trade. Burke finished with 15 goals and 59 points in 46 games with the Warriors last season, giving him 82 points on the season.
He said he really found a home with the Warriors after the trade.
“To get traded midway (through the season), you’ve got to get use to systems, players and build chemistry, but coming in this season, I know a lot of the guys so I’m coming in pretty comfortable and I’m just ready to get the season going,” said Burke.
The Warriors’ roster will feature five NHL Draft picks and two other players that attended development camps with NHL teams this summer.
Gregor, a third round pick of the San Jose Sharks, is looking to take the next step in his fourth WHL season.
“I worked on my speed and my hands, a lot of on-ice stuff; I worked on my off-ice too, but I was trying to work on a lot of things on the ice, getting faster and working on my skills a little bit more,” said Gregor, who came up just short of setting new career-highs last season with 27 goals and 61 points, despite missing 20 games.
There was some high expectations for the Warriors last season and their first round playoff exit meant that the team fell short of those expectations.
Gregor said the team learned a lot from that seven-game series loss to Swift Current and will use that this season.
“We learned how hard it is in the playoffs and that any team can beat any team at any time,” he said. “It’s always tough going out before you expected and going into this year, we can learn from that and take it as motivation.”
The Warriors will open training camp on Thursday morning with fitness testing at YaraCentre, followed by rookie camp hitting the ice at Mosaic Place for practices at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. The first scrimmage of rookie camp is at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The veterans will be on the ice for practices on Friday before main camp opens on Saturday. The annual Black and White Intersquad Game goes on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Fri, Apr 26, 8:00 AM
Agriculture, Entry-Level, Full-time
Featured
