MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Anyone checking out the Moose Jaw Warriors practice on Wednesday afternoon might have noticed a line of players wearing white jerseys putting on a pretty dominant performance.
And it’s safe to say that if that trio actually played in the Western Hockey League this season, they’d put up some ridiculously gaudy numbers.
Of course, Moose Jaw Minor Hockey grads Atley Calvert, Reece Newkirk and Jaxsen Wiebe have all moved on from the Western Hockey League and are into their professional careers, with the Warriors more than happy to have them skating with the team as they prepare for their coming campaigns.
“You talk about leadership all the time, and what leadership is is influence,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said. “Those guys, the way that they practice with full speed and the execution and consistency, all those things are part of influence. So it’s nice for the young guys who are out here to see that, as well as the older guys who have aspirations of being pros as well. It helps everyone.”
Newkirk, 23, is the rugged veteran of the bunch, heading into his fourth American Hockey League season and first with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Wiebe, 22, is playing his second season with the San Diego Gulls AHL organization and Calvert, 21, is embarking on his pro career with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton after wrapping up his five years with the Warriors last spring.
“I appreciate Lears and the guys letting me come out and it’s good to be out there again,” said Calvert, who sported Wilkes-Barre yellow-striped pants during practice. “It’s nice to be out there with some of the guys who I won it with last year, it’s a lot of fun and I’m just happy to get a chance to skate before I head up to Wilkes-Barre (next week).”
Calvert, of course, is the highest-scoring Moose Jaw-born Warrior in history and saw his career with the team wrap up with the WHL title and Memorial Cup last spring. This marks the first time since the 2019-20 season the Warriors will be putting together a team without the former Prairie Hockey Academy standout in the line-up.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a training camp without him in the mix, he’s certainly more than welcome any time he wants to skate with us but it’s going to be a new era without Atley Calvert in the picture,” O’Leary said.
The Warriors currently have 29 players with the team after going through cutdowns following training camp this past weekend. The good news is many of the youngsters in camp made cuts a difficult decision thanks to their hard work throughout the weekend.
“They’ve really done their part in taking a step from last year,” O’Leary said before pointing to a Moose Jaw Minor Hockey standout as an example.
“You look at a guy like Carson Deichert, he’s a smaller guy but we challenged him to get stronger as a 15-year-old to make the team this year, and he’s done exactly that. He’s put in the work and he was noticeable this year at camp, faster and stronger and more competitive in puck battles and that’s what you want to see.”
The Warriors will soon have four players off to NHL training camps, with forward Brayden Yager already in Winnipeg and defenceman Kalem Parker (Minnesota), Voytech Port (Anaheim) and Rilen Kovacevic (Colorado) off to camps next week.
That’ll give some youngsters a chance to make an impression through the exhibition campaign as the Warriors look to turn the page on their championship season. To that end, the team has inserted a few new wrinkles to their systems, looking to make the most of their massive change in personnel and ultra-elite talent.
“That’s part of the fun of being a coach,” O’Leary said. “You don’t want to pound a square peg into a round hole, you find out what your team does well and use the personnel to help them succeed. There’s a couple different things that we can change, but it’s still hockey, and it’s about effort and compete and the focus on habits. We always concentrate on that first and there have been some changes.”
The Warriors will face another WHL team for the first time on Friday night when they take on the Regina Pats in a neutral site exhibition game in Estevan. As one might expect, the team is looking forward to the chance to take the ice against someone other than themselves.
“It changes everything,” O’Leary said. “It’s one thing to be in practice and playing intrasquad games against guys you know, but as soon as you’re playing a different team the intensity goes up a bit. That’s where you can really evaluate what a player is all about, the competition is high and the stakes are a little bit higher when you’re against another team. So we’re looking forward to taking the next step here.”
The Warriors continue the preseason on Saturday night when they rematch the Pats at Southland Centre in Assiniboia. They’re then in Swift Current on Friday, Sept. 13 before playing their final exhibition game against the Broncos on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
