Warriors have young squad

Times Reporter  

 

The Wheatland Warriors are looking to have a high work ethic this year. 

This will mean having the whole double-A bantam team competing every shift of every game in order to see results. 

The team has a whole new coaching staff, who have some experience in the junior hockey ranks.

New head coach Cody Brown is looking forward to the challenge of being able to put a competitive team on the ice night in and night out.

“We’re hoping to have a solid season. So far through camp I’ve liked what I’ve seen (with) a really strong back end that looks like it’ll be hard to beat. Forwards too, (we have) been happy with everybody’s efforts so far, so hopefully we see flashes of that on (the) team,” said Brown.

When it comes to expectations for being the new coach, Brown hopes to see improvement game-by-game with the players.

“To be successful for sure. We want the kids to get better, that is priority number one, so that will be the main focus going out of this year with something and carry it into next year,” said Brown.

The Warriors are going to have a younger roster compared to last year, so there will be some learning curves as the season goes on.

“We’re definitely going to be younger, we have a few returning guys, but it’s going to be a lot of new faces this year,” said Brown. “Being a younger team we’re going to have to have a lot of them young guys to step up right off the bat and our older guys as well – with a year of experience we’ll need their leadership.”

After hosting an exhibition tournament this past weekend at the Strathmore Family Centre, the Warriors will open the regular season this coming weekend.

Wheatland will travel to Taber on Sept. 19 (8:30 p.m.) before hosting their home opener the following day versus the Old Grizzlys. Game time 7:30 p.m. at the Strathmore Family Centre.