And, oh yeah, they’d be planning a banner ceremony for their opening night.
But this isn’t a normal year and won’t be a normal season, by any stretch of the imagination.
And as of right now, there are plenty of questions as to whether or not the Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League will be playing at all.
Still, COVID-19 pandemic or not, teams are getting ready, just in case things do work out. And that includes the Warriors, who will see their crew taking the ice for their first practices at the Kinsmen Sportsplex on Sept. 14.
First things first, though – getting everyone settled into school and all their classes lined up, online and otherwise.
“We’re just looking forward to getting the guys all in here and getting going again,” said Warriors head coach Trevor Weisgerber. “It’s definitely been a different year. Lots of credit to (assistant coach) Carter Davis, he’s been doing all the school stuff with him being at Vanier and working with all that, helping the guys out and getting them situated with what’s going on there.”
There’s little question much of the sports world will be on tenterhooks waiting to see how things play out with the return to school amid the pandemic. A clean and outbreak-free opening could see a rather quick start to the season for many sports, hockey included.
“The last that we had heard was a November 1 start for the season, but until we hear from the Health Authority that they’re going to give us that okay, we won’t be doing anything,” Weisgerber said. “As long as we get school going smoothly, then I assume that we’ll see hockey start up then, but I think they’re just holding off and waiting to see what happens.”
The Warriors themselves will be doing their part to keep things as safe as possible.
“There’s a bunch of protocols we have to follow, and a lot of it is just through the rinks where we have to follow the rules,” Weisgerber said. “Then when it comes to equipment and stuff, there will be a lot more that goes into it as far as the sanitizing and things we’ll have to take care of this year that we wouldn’t have been doing years prior. It’s definitely going to be different, but it’s stuff we have to do to stay safe.”
When things do get going, the Warriors look to once again be in pretty decent shape – in addition to having a host of returning players from last year’s league finalists, recruiting has also gone well for the local squad. As a result, expectations are once again high for a team that finished with a 30-13-1-0 record last season.
“You never know until guys sign on that dotted line, but we’re happy with what we have coming in and we’re looking forward to getting going with these guys,” Weisgerber said. “Last year we were pretty young and we have a lot of guys returning, so I think this year we’ll be a little bit older. We’ll have some 17-year-olds, which will be nice, and from the looks of things we should be able to do pretty well.”
There will be some turnover, though, as a handful of their leaders from last season have already signed with their respective junior clubs.
“That’s what we’re here for, if guys end up moving on that’s what we want, we’re just a feeder system for the junior teams,” Weisgerber said. “If kids can move on at 16 or 17, that’s what we’re looking to do.”
