It’s been a long offseason for the Moose Jaw Warriors following their first round playoff exit last season.

The expectations are high for this year’s Warriors’ team, but with the start of the regular season on the horizon, they’re focusing on the right now instead of the past or future.

“It’s been a long time since we lost to Swift Current, and that’s going to be the last I talk about that, but good training camp, guys came really fit, they’re eager to play for real and get our season going,” said Head Coach Tim Hunter after practice on Thursday.

“We’ve got a real good team and we’re excited to see what it can do on the ice.”

The Warriors will be in a war in the East Division this season with the Regina Pats preparing to host the 100th Memorial Cup at the end of the season and the Swift Current Broncos expected to be strong as well. Prince Albert and Saskatoon are improving and the Wheat Kings still have some key pieces remaining on their team.

Moose Jaw is looking to play underdog with a lot of attention remaining on the Pats in Regina after their run to the league final last season. The Pats were the top-ranked team in the CHL Preseason Top-Ten.

“I don’t think that there’s any debate, (Regina) went to the final last year, they’re hosting the Memorial Cup and the experts have them as the number one team in the Canadian Hockey League, so we’ll just ready to chase them,” said Warriors general manager Alan Millar.

Heading into the season, the high expectations for the Warriors stem from the fact that the team has a large group of high-end returning players. The team’s top-five scores from last season will be back, including four in the lineup for opening night with captain Brett Howden being the only player still away at an NHL camp.

The players know that the expectations for this year’s team are high, but they’re also looking to live up to those expectations.

“The whole preseason has been building up to this and the boys are pretty excited to get out there,” said forward Brayden Burke, who was second of the team last season with 82 points in 61 games.

Moose Jaw will be looking to rebound from their seven-game loss to Swift Current in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

It was an experience that the players have said that they’ve learned from entering this season.

“Even just progressing throughout that round, we learned what it takes to win in playoff hockey and a lot of guys are coming with different mindsets and even in camp, there’s been a bit more purpose to everything,” said Burke. “The guys are really ready to get the season started.”

One of the biggest messages from Hunter throughout the preseason has been about making the players uncomfortable so that when they get to that point in the playoffs again, they’re ready to push through it.

Burke said being pushing through your comfort level now will pay dividends when it matters.

“It’s not all going to come easy like you’d expect it, we’ve got a lot of skill on this team and we’re going to have a good season, but there’s going to be times throughout the year that we’re going to have to go through conflict and once you get out of that comfort zone, that’s when it’s going to pay off,” said the 20-year-old forward.

Sophomore defenceman Jett Woo said the team is ready to push through and get to that next level.

“The coaches are really helping us be prepared for anything to happen in a game, or during the season, that will ultimately make us better players and a better team,” said Woo.

The Warriors have the strong group of returning forwards, but the defensive group may be the strongest that the team has had in years as well with Woo, Josh Brook, Dmitri Zaitsev and Colin Paradis returning, as well as new import Oleg Sosunov expected to make an impact.

With Brook suffering an injury earlier this month at Montreal Canadiens camp, Woo and the other defencemen will take on bigger roles.

“If I play my game than I’ll have success,” said Woo. “Everyone knows their roles and what we need to do to have success.”

Brody Willms will man the net for the Warriors this season as he takes over for Zach Sawchenko. Willms said earlier this week that he’s ready for the challenge.

The Warriors open the regular season with a trip to Prince Albert on Friday night to face the Raiders. The season-opening home-and-home series comes to Mosaic Place on Saturday night.

The Warriors will be hosting a Fan Fest before Saturday’s home opener with Brad Johner and his boys providing the musical entertainment. Everything starts there at 3 p.m.

Both games this weekend will be live on Country 100, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:40 p.m.