Outside of Moose Jaw Warriors captain Brett Howden and fellow forward Noah Gregor, no player may have more fans in the stands on Monday night at Mosaic Place.

The two games to open the 2017 CHL Canada/Russia Series will be a homecoming of sorts for Kelowna Rockets forward Kole Lind, who will be the lone Saskatchewan born player taking part in the two-game set.

“It will be pretty packed with family and friends, both games, it’s just good to represent my province, it’s really cool that its in Moose Jaw and, my closest game to home, in Swift Current too, that will be really cool for me,” said Lind.

Shaunavon sits just over 100 kilometres away from Swift Current and Tuesday’s contest will mark just the second time in his WHL career that Lind has had the chance to play near his hometown.

The Rockets make their way to the East Division only once every two seasons, they’ll come to Moose Jaw and Swift Current on their six-game road trip in December.

“It will be really cool for me. I’m really excited to play in front of my family and friends,” said Lind.

Now in his third full season in Kelowna, Lind is coming off a 30-goal, 87-point season in 2016-17, which doubled both his previous goal and point totals from his rookie season.  That led to Lind being selected in the second round, 33rd overall, by the Vancouver Canucks in this summer’s NHL Draft.

Lind comes into Monday’s game leading the Rockets with nine goals and 28 points in 17 games this season.

“Team-wise, we’ve definitely wanted to win a few more games, we got off to a pretty slow start that way,” said Lind.  “Personally, I’m doing alright, but just focusing on trying to get more wins because we’re in a tough division in the B.C. Division.”

Team WHL opens the six-game series between the Canadian Hockey League and the Russians with the two-game set on Monday and Tuesday.  Hockey Canada uses the series as part of the evaluation to select this year’s national junior team.

Lind attended Canada’s summer development camp in July, which was the first step towards next month’s 2018 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.

Every player suiting up for the two games will be looking to show what they can do at the international level with an eye on wearing the maple leaf over the Christmas holidays.

“I’m going to go out there and create chances for myself and my teammates, and try to use my speed to my advantage because at the World Juniors, and here, it will be a really fast game and I’m just going to try to push the pace,” said Lind after the first practice with Team WHL on Monday morning at Mosaic Place.

With only one chance to hit the ice together before the game, gaining some quick chemistry is key for the players to being able to show their best game.

“For me it’s a little bit easier because I played with Cody (Glass) and Michael (Rasmussen) at the Top Prospects Game last year, so it’s cool that we’re line mates again,” said Lind.  “There’s a lot of skilled players out here, so at the same time, it will be easier than usual because we’ll know where each other are.”

Puck drops at 7 p.m. on Monday night at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw.