The first WHL season ended with the Moose Jaw Canucks raising the championship trophy as the league champions.

To kick off the 50th season, the Moose Jaw Warriors will be paying homage to that championship team with special edition jerseys for the season opener on Thursday night.

The team wasn't able to secure permission to wear the Chicago Blackhawks' jerseys that the 166-67 Canucks, who were affiliate with the Blackhawks, wore that season, so they instead went with a fresh design that pays honour to the hockey history in Moose Jaw.

“They're excellent,” said general manager Alan Millar. “It certainly was a challenge to come up with the right concept, the right design, and we put together a great jersey that reflects our rich hockey tradition, brings the Canucks and the Warriors and the Blackhawks' era with the jersey that they wore in the 60s together.”

The jersey features maroon and beige stripes running across a black base with the Canucks and Warriors on the shoulders and a vintage Blackhawks logo on the chest. There is also Blackhawks' logos on the cuff of both sleeves.

“They look awesome,” said forward Brett Howden. “It's a really different jersey, there's some cool colours on them, there's a lot of history behind them as well, so we're all really excited to wear them on Thursday night.”

“There's a lot of cool things about it, it's all about history and that's the biggest thing,” added Sawchenko. “We're honour our past and it's going to be a real special game on Thursday night.”

The Warriors will wear the jersey on Thursday for the “stand-alone” season opening game against the Regina Pats. They will wear them again on Saturday night in Regina.

Millar said he actually prefers the design that they were able to come up with over any throwback jersey they could of worn.

“This is richer, it's got more of a unique look and it really brings the era of the Canucks and us together,” he said. “It turned out really, really well.”

The Warriors will be honour the Canucks in more than one way during Thursday's season opener. They will also be raising a banner for the 1966-67 championship team that will hang in Mosaic Place.

Four members of that championship team will be on hand for the game, including: Reg Bechtold, Jim Currie, Gerry Miller and Garth Rizzuto.

The Warriors sold over 3,000 tickets for the season opener, which means there are a number of tickets still available. The team encourages fans to join them for the celebration and to get tickets early. Puck drops at 7:00pm on Thursday night.