Brett Howden skates the puck up ice during last year's training camp at Mosaic Place.

After back-to-back years of sitting and watching the playoffs, the Moose Jaw Warriors are hoping that everything falls back into place this year.

The Warriors will open their 2014 training camp on Thursday with fitness testing at YaraCentre, followed by rookie camp on the ice at Mosaic Place throughout the afternoon.

There's a sense of optimism around the team as they enter camp this year with a new head coach and a highly touted group of young players coming into camp this year looking to secure a spot on the team.

67 players will be hitting the ice throughout the camp and the Warriors are confident that they can find a playoff team among those players.

“We're pleased with where we're at,” said Warriors General Manager Alan Millar. “The guys have been rolling into town over the last couple of days, it looks like the guys have worked hard and we're looking forward to getting them on the ice.”

Following the Warriors' run to the Eastern Conference final three seasons ago, the team has spent the last two years trying to retool their team that lost a lot after that season. They've done that through the draft with players like Brett Howden and Ryan Bowen being added and through trades, bringing in the likes of Jayden Halbgewachs and Noah Gregor.

“We're hopeful and expecting that, coupled with the development of some of our 17 and 18-year-old players, that some of the fruits of our labours during the difficult times start to pay off in terms of some very good young players coming into our program,” said Millar.

“As much as we're still fairly young, we feel that we've got a good mix of some real good older players, specifically at the 20-year-old group.”

The Warriors' strength will be in goal as they have 19-year-old netminder Justin Paulic being pushed by Zach Sawchenko, who turns 17 in December, and 16-year-old Brody Willms.

There's also pieces to work with on the back end with Alexey Sleptsov, Reid Zalitach, Dallas Valentine, Tyler Brown and Spenser Jensen all returning.

The biggest battles will be in the forward group. “We have as many as 17-18 signed players that are eligible to play and competiting for 13-14 spots,” said Millar.

Howden leads the young group of forwards that are expected to come in this year and one, push the veterans for spots on the team and two, be big contributors this year for the tribe.

This will be Howden's second camp with the Warriors and after playing in five games with Moose Jaw last year, he's feeling more confident coming into this year's camp.

“I'm just excited to get this rookie camp going and move on from there,” said Howden. “I'm not looking too far ahead, just looking at rookie camp and then moving on past that.”

After being selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft, a lot of expectations were thrown on the shoulders of Quinton Howden's little brother. The younger Howden said he aiming to move out of the shadow of his brother and make a name for himself during this camp, and season.

“I'm excited to throw my name out there and let them know who Brett is,” said Howden. “I'm really excited for this camp and hopefully I can crack the squad and show them who I am.”

Howden will have a lot of expectations on him and a lot of eyes fixed on him during this camp. He's not taking any for granted and coming into the camp ready to work.

“I'm just trying to show off what I have and play well,” Howden said. “I was feeling really good by the end of the summer, I worked really hard and feel like I'm in the best shape that I've been in my whole life.”

The rookies will be on the ice for practices at 2:00pm, 3:00pm and 4:00pm on Thursday and then Team Black, led by Gregor and Willms, takes on Team White, with Howden and Bowen, at 7:00pm.

More on Training Camp:
Tim Hunter Era Begins For Warriors
Point Wants To Keep Rolling
Rodewald Hopes To Build Off Big Year
Eberle Ready For His Final WHL Season
Yakubowski Excited To Be A Warrior
Smejkal Adjusting To First Week In MJ