The final stretch drive towards the post-season kicks off with a busy week for the WHL-leading Moose Jaw Warriors.

This week’s four games in five nights will see the Warriors travel over 2,500-kilometres across the Prairies, as they look to keep their hold on top spot in the Western Hockey League.

Making sure that they have their top game each night will be a good challenge for the league leaders and a nice taste of what a long playoff run could consist of.

“It’s a tough schedule, we haven’t had too many days off lately, but that’s part of it,” said Jeannot. “We’re young guys, we’re pretty resilient, so we’ve just got to keep rested and give it our all out there.”

The Warriors have hit the road to Lethbridge to battle the Hurricanes on Tuesday in the first game of this week’s stretch. Moose Jaw will also meet Kootenay in Cranbrook; travel to Brandon; and host Saskatoon over the course of the next five days.

“Right now we’re just focused on the process of wanting to get better and better everyday, we’re building up towards playoffs and we know how we want to be playing when playoffs start, so that’s the big focus right now, everyday we want to focus on what we can fix in our game,” said Warriors forward Tanner Jeannot.

The Warriors have set a franchise-record with 46 wins in 61 games so far this season. They have won back-to-back games after beating the Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades over the weekend.

Jeannot said despite that success, there’s still room for improvement for the Warriors and they have just 11 games to make sure they’re on top of their game heading into the post-season.

“We still need to (consistently) play a full 60, eliminating those mental breaks in a period that you might that will give your opponent some momentum and some opportunities,” said Jeannot. “We need to make sure we’re always tracking back hard right to home plate in the middle, finishing in front of guys on the back-check and just puck management.

The Warriors have went 2-0 against the Hurricanes so far during their season series. Jeannot said that Lethbridge’s speed and work ethic will be a solid test for the Warriors at the Enmax Centre on Tuesday.

“They’re a hard working team, we’ve seen them a few times in the new year, so we know what they’re going to be bringing and what to expect and what we want to do,” he said. “We want to bring the pressure to them and hopefully we have a good result.”

Puck drops in Lethbridge on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. You can tune in live to all the action on Country 100, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 7:40 p.m.

Howden Dealt to Rangers

The Warriors’ captain was moved on Monday at the trade deadline in the National Hockey League.

19-year-old forward Brett Howden had his NHL rights traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the New York Rangers in a blockbuster deal. 

“It was pretty crazy, I wasn’t expecting that, but it’s hockey, it’s a business, anything happens,” said Howden. “As happy as I was with my time in Tampa, it was quick and short, but I had a lot of friends there, met a lot of good people and it was a really fun organization to be with, but in saying that, I’m super excited to start fresh with the Rangers and see where that takes me.”

Howden was part of a package sent to New York that also included Regina Pats defenceman Libor Hajek, forward Vladislav Namestnikov, 2018 first round pick and a conditional first round pick in 2019. That was all in exchange for Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh and forward JT Miller.

The Lightning originally selected Howden with the 27th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. He played in three preseason games with the Lightning, picking up an assist in one of two games during the 2017 preseason.

Howden now moves from the loaded Lighting to a Rangers team that has moved into rebuild mode.  He said he’s excited about the opportunities that presents.

“They believe in (Howden and Hajek) and believe in what we have in the future and going forward, there’s a lot more opportunity there for sure and that’s what’s exciting for me,” Howden said.