The U15 Moose Jaw Mavericks are back into the Saskatchewan Female Hockey League and looking to start off on the right foot.

The Bantam Mavericks went 22-0 in the regular season two years ago but then weren't able to field a team last season. A lot of players on that 2018-19 league finalist team have moved on to play AAA over the past couple of seasons.

Some time removed from that, and with a few practices under their belts this year and a new coach, things are starting to take shape for this season.

And this season adds an additional monkey wrench is that it’s a pandemic, with new rules and a delayed start to the season.

“On ice, it’s almost business as usual,” said Mavericks head coach Jim Howe. “It’s precautions off the ice that hopefully let us move forward. As long as we can wear our masks and do our thing and on ice we’re going to plug away, and we’ll let the SHA (Saskatchewan Hockey Association) do that safe within the province.”

Howe talked about what he wants his team to be like when the season starts.

“Just like hockey has always been it’s about respect for people around you,” he said. “We’re going to go out and compete hard, but we’re going to respect the new rules as we respected the old rules. Every facility is going to have people and rules that we’re going to abide by. And we’re going to do that as a team, but like we’re going to try to do everything as a team.”

Their schedule has yet to be determined but they will likely be in with some other teams in a mini-league in the south. This year, 11 teams are listed in the south part of the league but that’s likely to get split up into two mini-leagues of five and six teams.