The Moose Jaw Warriors are entering a season where they could realistically contend for a Western Hockey League title or finish in the middle of the pack or just crack the playoffs. Or any combination of things in between.
Such is the case when you’re among a half-dozen teams who feel they’re on the cusp of putting together an impressive season -- and often it comes down to how things went in the off-season and decisions that were made in training camp.
So when the team officially hit the ice on Thursday morning, general manager Jason Ripplinger and the Warriors coaching staff were most certainly keeping a close eye on things.
“I think there’s an opportunity for us to be a real good team this year and a chance to be a contending team,” Ripplinger said while overseeing fitness test to start training camp on Wednesday afternoon. “There are quite a few things where we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but the potential is there for us to have a really good team and that’s what we’re going to be looking for.”
The rookies take centre stage for the first two days of camp, with the first two practices on Thursday morning, followed by the first main camp practice and the first rookie scrimmage at 4:30 p.m.
While the majority of those youngsters will be returned to their club teams before the weekend, a solid showing will get them into main camp beginning Saturday and a chance to crack what could be a deep offensive line-up.
“There's a lot of offensive players on our team and that’s kind of how we’ve built our team, to make sure we have lots of depth going into the playoffs,” Ripplinger said. “We don't want to just be running two lines, we want to make sure we can play all four lines and that’s what we’re going to be looking for here.”
Leading the way will be the teams’ top three scorers from last season in Jagger Firkus (66-40-48-88), Brayden Yager (67-28-50-78) and Atley Calvert (67-40-33-73), assuming all return from their respective NHL camps. Overagers Eric Alarie (65-19-27-46) and Josh Hoekstra (67-10-7-17) will look to see jumps in their game, as will second-year vets Ben Riche (63-8-10-18) and Harper Lolacher (59-11-3-14), to name a few.
The defensive corps will be led by Columbus Blue Jackets first-rounder Denton Mateychuk (63-8-57-65), who is entering his second season as team captain, and overager Lucas Brenton (68-2-13-15). With 20-year-old Max Wanner likely to end up in Edmonton’s minor league system, a handful of youngsters from last season will need to take a jump in their game to help anchor the team’s defence.
“Obviously, losing Max and (graduated defenceman Logan) Dowhaniuk from last year, is tough, they were key players for us,” Ripplinger said. “So it's time for (Cosmo) Wilson and (Samuel) Borschowa) and (Matthew) Gallant and the younger guys to step up and I think they will.”
When it comes to goaltending, one name rises to the front immediately. Jackson Unger has spent the past two seasons playing behind top-quality 20-year-old goaltenders and is set to take the step into being a starting goaltender himself.
Unger suited up in 33 games last season and put together a 4.19 goals against average and .867 save percentage.
“Jackson’s a year older and a year smarter, he’s been here for a long time so we’ll see how he does,” Ripplinger said. “We believe in him and we think he can do the job for us.”
A host of young goaltenders will be battling for position behind him, including 17-year-olds Dmitri Fortin and Josh Banini along with 16-year-old Jonah Tonhauser.
“It’s going to be a battle for position there and we’ll see how that plays out in the exhibition season,” Ripplinger said.
All in all, Ripplinger is in no rush to make any hard decisions, especially with players heading off to NHL camps in mid-September.
“We want to make sure we see who all comes back, you have two first-round NHL picks and you never know if they’re going to stick,” he said. “Our job is to develop them and if they stick, they stick but if they come back, obviously our team comes really explosive. So I think it starts in November when teams start to fall back a little bit and if we’re on a roll here we’ll try and get something done.”
Camp continues on Friday with rookie camp scrimmage at 9 a.m., main camp practice at 11 a.m., rookie camp scrimmage at 2:30 p.m. and the main camp three-on-three scrimmage at 5:30 p.m.
The team will trim rookies heading into the heart of camp Saturday, with a scrimmage at 9 a.m., practices at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and scrimmage at 3:30 p.m.
Things wrap up Sunday with main camp practice at 10:30 a.m. and the Black-White Intrasquad Game at 12 p.m.
All the action takes place at the Moose Jaw Events Centre and is open to the public.
