The Moose Jaw U18 AAA Warriors were undefeated in the two rounds of the playoffs, and nearly half of that team will be coming back this season.

The Warriors players are registered for classes and are arriving from across the province to start preparations for a 2020-2021 season that no one knows exactly will start.

The Warriors will be on the ice at the Kinsmen Arena Sept. 14.

“Obviously we do have some young guys coming in but the nice thing is... we’ll have eight to 10 returning guys,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber. “With those guys being around last year and knowing what’s expected and the systems, I don’t think the curve won’t be as bad as we think.”

Returning from last year’s team are forwards Evan Callaghan, Chris Otterson, Kirk Mullen, Matthew Perkins and Caelan Fitzpatrick, as well as defencemen Ethan Peters and Wyatt Wilson. Defenceman Quinn Mantei will get his first full season with the club after playing seven games as an affiliate last season.

After their season ended prematurely, and they weren’t able to get a spring camp under their belts, Weisgerber said this off-season has been a lot different from years past.

“We’ve got the guys coming in on September 13th and they’re all registered for school now,” he said. “They’ve had a couple of options to either do it online or to come in and actually go to classes. There’s kind of a mixture where some guys are comfortable doing it online, and other guys are more comfortable going to class. But other than that, we’re looking forward to getting the guys in and we’ll go from that once they get in.”

He said the team and the league are waiting for word from the health authority as to when they would be able to start.

“If we weren’t allowed to travel outside the province, there would be probably no national championship and we could probably go later into the spring and be able to finish our season that way,” Weisgerber said. “It might not affect us too, too bad, as long as we can get going here probably in November at some point would be ideal. And I would think it wouldn’t change things that much.”

Weisgerber said he thinks the young players will be catching on quick and they'll be on the ice at Mosaic shortly after it's in.