The Moose Jaw Warriors don’t have any 16-year-olds on their roster this season, but they have seven players that are playing in their first season in the Western Hockey League.

For those seven players, there’s some big adjustments to be made in moving up from playing midget hockey to the WHL level. It’s not just the skill level, but also the commitment to school and hockey at the same time.

It usually takes rookies a few weeks to get their bearings after the start of the regular season.

“It’s been very surreal,” said 17-year-old defenceman Brenden Kwiatkowski. “It’s a lot of faster, smarter players, you’ve got to do your homework when you go back to get the puck, it’s a lot of faster than I’m use to, but I’m catching up and feel like I’m doing good so far.”

Tyler Smithies as seen time at the WHL level, playing in two games last season as a 16-year-old. The Beaumont, AB forward said he’s enjoying his start to this WHL career so far.

“It’s been really good, learning from all the (veterans), you really start to learn some things and then you can start to add them to your game, so it’s been really good,” he said.

Smithies earned a spot on the Warriors’ 2017-18 roster with a strong preseason. He posted four goals and nine points in 31 games last season with the Leduc Oil Kings.

Over the course of the preseason, Smithies was able to show his versatility and he feels that was what helped him secure a spot on the team.

“I can play centre, left wing and right wing, I can play all over the place and I can make plays under pressure and hard plays off the wall,” said Smithies.

Coming into training camp, Kwiatkowski was a bit of an unknown as a listed player, but he showed improvement throughout camp and the preseason.

The six-foot-two, 180-pound defenceman posted two goals and 16 points in 34 games with the Grand Prairie Storm at the midget AAA level last season.

Kwiatkowski said improving everyday is his role throughout the season.

“As soon as I got on the ice, I got better everyday, my passes got better, everything got better,” he said.

“Getting to go against the returning players has helped and the coaches have helped too… I just want to improve on everything and play my role, get as minutes as I can.”

Finding playing time for the seven rookies will be tough on this year’s Warriors team with so many returning players taking up spots in the lineup.

Smithies said being your best everyday in practice is one way to keep pushing your game to the next level.

“It’s going to be cool to see what we can do this year and just learning from the guys because we have one of the best forward groups in the league,” he said.

“I just need to make the most of my opportunities, do the simple things, chipping the puck out, getting shots on net and not turning the puck over, those are all important.”

The Warriors will return to the ice coming up on Friday night when they host the Regina Pats for an East Division showdown at Mosaic Place. The Red Deer Rebels come to town on Saturday.

Warriors Receive Honourable Mention

After being overlooked in the preseason rankings, the Moose Jaw Warriors received some attention in the second week of the CHL Top-Ten rankings.

The Warriors were an honourable mention this week after posting a 2-0 record during the opening week of the regular season last week.

For the second straight week, the Regina Pats were the top-ranked team in the CHL.