The Warriors were originally slated to hold their training camp in Lumsden in mid-August, but ice plant difficulties on the literal eve of the event forced head coach Trevor Weisgerber and crew to look elsewhere. They eventually found ice in Regina and managed to pull things together in a matter of hours.
“We were lucky enough to be able to find ice, but it was getting hold of everyone and making sure everyone was showing up in Regina and not Lumsden,” Weisgerber said. “It still worked out really well, so we were super happy with it.”
The club went into camp looking to fill a handful of spots out of their corps of invitees and were able to do so, with Weisgerber especially pleased with the results.
“We had pretty much what we wanted and it was really competitive, we were really happy with the pace and everything that went on,” he said. “It ended up working really well and the guys we ended up picking are pretty solid players, Now with the guys in and everything, we’re full at ‘er.”
All told, the Warriors ended up signing two forwards, a defenceman and a goaltender, as was planned when their camp kicked off. Players went home for a couple of weeks, returned for the start of school on Sept. 1 and took the ice for their first practice of the 2021-22 season on Wednesday night in Caronport.
“It was good, high tempo,” Weisgerber said of the opening skate. “We did some battle drills and things like that, and once the ice goes in at Mosaic we’ll get into some system things and go over team stuff and things like that before our first exhibition game.”
That contest will take place on Sept. 17 at Mosaic Place against Swift Current -- although that won’t be the best time to see the whole team in action. With Western Hockey League and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League camps also running in the coming weeks, a good number of their players will be busy elsewhere for the time being.
“I don’t think we’re going to have a full roster until after the Sept. 19th game (in Swift Current), and we may not be able to practice with our full team until Sept. 20,” Weisgerber said. “So that doesn’t leave us much time, it makes it a little bit tough, but it is what it is… We should be getting everyone back and once we get going here it should be fun to work with this group.”
The Warriors will play a third exhibition game on Sept. 29 against the Estevan Bears at Mosaic Place and will open the regular season on Oct. 2 when they host the Regina Pat Canadians.
