17-year-old forward Brecon Wood didn’t see a ton of ice time during his rookie season with the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2016-17, but he was able to learn in other ways.

Now entering his sophomore campaign, Wood is hoping to use what he learned to take his game to another level.

“I had a lot of opportunity to watch some good players in the WHL and you just watch them every practice, every game and try to learn, the biggest thing I noticed was the speed that they play at and their heads up ability with the puck,” said Wood.

Wood took what he was able to learn over the course of last season and put it into his game over the summer with a goal of earning a bigger role with the team this season.

“I’m a little more confident this year and have a little more intelligence out there, I feel like I had a good offseason, I’m stronger and faster and worked a lot on my release, so it should be a good season,” Wood said.

In 57 games as a rookie, Wood scored one goal and picked up two points in mostly a fourth line role on the veteran Warriors, who are returning most of their lineup from last season.

He said he’s focused on earning his role back on this year’s team and then expanding it.

“Obviously you can’t take any days off and you’ve just got to play every game like you’re on the bubble, so I should have a good shot here and as long as I keep upping my play I’ll make the team,” said Wood.

In three preseason games so far, Wood hasn’t found the score sheet, but has looked stronger with each outing.

The 2015 seventh round pick wants to keep improving over the remaining week of the preseason.

“The biggest thing was getting back into game shape after the summer, so I’ve just been getting better from there,” said Wood.

“I just want to be able to start to put the puck in the net, make some plays out there and start to get on the score sheet a little bit.”

Wood and the Warriors return to game action on Friday when they head to Brandon to open up a home-and-home series with the Wheat Kings to finish off the preseason. They’ll face off on Saturday night at Mosaic Place.