The Moose Jaw Warriors closed the book on a busy five days of training camp with Sunday night’s annual Black & White Intersquad Game at Mosaic Place.

The organization’s hockey operations staff is walking away happy with how the weekend went after some impressive performances across the board from returnees and prospective rookies to this year’s draft class and camp invites.

“At different stages and different levels there was all kinds of competition throughout camp, we’ve seen a lot of good things and we’re really pleased with the five days,” said General Manager Alan Millar on Sunday.

The Warriors hosted 86 players for the camp, starting with rookie camp and moving into main camp on the weekend.

Four players from this year’s draft class made it through to main camp and played in Sunday’s intersquad game, including forwards Peyton McKenzie and Levi Theissen, defenceman and first round pick Daemon Hunt, and goalie Jackson Berry.

Millar said he liked how those 15-year-old players handled themselves against the veterans.

“Hunt is a very good young player, he’s smart and poised, he’s got a good edge to his game, he’s played a lot of the camp with Josh Brook and they’ve been throwing the puck around pretty good together; McKenzie is a real hard working, energy guy that’s going to be a good player; Levi Theissen is a guy that’s got good upside and could certainly benefit as much time around our team and getting into these situations, he’s real raw, but there’s lots of potential there; and Berry, he’s real athletic and didn’t give up a goal during rookie camp,” said Millar.

2017 fifth round pick Levi Theissen in action during Sunday's intersquad game. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Theissen was a fifth round pick by the Warriors in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft and didn’t look out of place at all during main camp.

He said he felt like he had a good camp.

“I got feet moving after rookie camp and came into main camp a little confident,” he said. “It was so much faster at main camp, so you just need to keep your pace up and just make quick decisions with the puck, head up all the time.”

Coming out of the camp, Theissen said he was happy with his speed, but can see that’s an area that he still needs to improve on.

“I need to work on everything, I want to see more from myself,” he said.

The Warriors also had three camp invites make it through rookie camp into main camp with defencemen Dylan Herzog, Josh Makarchuk and Brendan McBride getting a chance to hit the ice with the veterans.

Millar said he liked how all three of those players handled themselves throughout the camp.

“Those kids all brought some similar qualities in terms of, they played hard, they played smart and they played a solid, simple game,” said Millar. “It’s one of those examples of sometimes young kids get to these camps and think they’ve got to go end-to-end and dangle, but less is more sometimes.”

Defenceman Dylan Herzog controls the puck during a scrimmage at main camp on Saturday. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Makarchuk made it into the intersquad game to finish camp and was able to hold his own.

“I was really pleased with my overall performance,” he said. “I just came here and gave it everything I could and tried to show them what I can do.”

The 16-year-old played last season with the Calgary Royals in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League, posting six goals and 21 points in 37 games on the back-end.

He was able to show his skating ability throughout camp.

“Skating is one of my strong suits and I’ve gotten better at moving the puck,” he said. “I took a lot out of this camp, learning a lot from the veterans here, got to see what everything is about.”

16-year-old forward Cameron Sterling, who was one of the standouts in rookie camp, continued to play well into main camp, scoring in Sunday’s intersquad game.

He said he’s coming away very happy with how he was able to perform.

“I was a little nervous coming into main camp, but I got a lot more confident and got my groove on,” he said.

“Bounces went my way and I was able to score.”

Sterling said he’ll take a lot away from the camp, “It was a really good experience, I liked playing with the veterans, it makes my game better.”

The Warriors will now prepare for their preseason opener on Tuesday against the Swift Current Broncos at Mosaic Place. Admission to the game is by donation to the Canadian Mental Health Association in the name of former prospect Ethan Williams.