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WHL Moose Jaw Warriors

2019-2020 Season Preview

September 20, 2019 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors News Release


The Moose Jaw Warriors are moving into a new era as they prepare for the start of the 2019-20 season in the Western Hockey League.

Following a stretch that saw the team post 134 wins over three seasons, the Warriors will be going with a younger lineup this season.

"As young as we're going to be, it's a strong group, it's complemented well  by some good veteran players in terms of work ethic, compete, playing the game the right way, it's not a bottoming out," said Warriors general manager Alan Millar in an exclusive interview with mjwarriors.ca.

The Warriors' "re-tool" started at the WHL Bantam Draft when the team traded NHL drafted defenceman Jett Woo to the Calgary Hitmen for a package that included a first-round pick, which was used on defenceman Denton Mateychuk, and 2002-born forward Ryder Korczak.

Millar said that deal helped the Warriors solidify themselves for this season as well as into the future.

"Going into the draft, if the right deal was there for Woo, in terms of what our plan was going to be over the next, not only one year, not two years, but three years, we'd consider it," he said.

"That was a real difficult decision for the organization, but at the same time, you look at the youth in the deal, you look at Mateychuk as the first-round pick, who we really like; Ryder Korczak is a late '02 and is going to be a real good player for us over the next three years.

"It was the right thing to do in the big picture and really fit-in in terms of our youth movement, a bit of a re-tool on our team and building the next team that can compete for a championship here."

The Warriors will be playing this season with 11 17-year-olds and one 16-year-old on their roster. Their top returning forward is 18-year-old Brayden Tracey, who was selected in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks.

The players growing up together is a key part of the plan for the Warriors.

"We'll remain competitive, take a real good jump next year and then the year after that, if you look at our core, we're hopeful that's a team that's going to get back to that contending level," Millar said.

"We understand that 11 17-year-olds on our team can present some challenges and it's something that our management group and the coaching staff have talked about extensively, but this is the time to do it, we feel it's a strong group.

"We want to get them entrenched in our environment, we want to develop this group, they're going to play, they're going to get better on a week-to-week and month-to-month basis."

The Warriors fell short during their last push towards a championship, losing out in the second round to the Swift Current Broncos during the 2018 WHL Playoffs.

Millar knows that the Moose Jaw hockey community is hungry for a title.

"We're in a passionate, fantastic junior hockey community here and there's one thing missing from the rafters," he said.

Warriors to grow up front

The Warriors know what they have in Brayden Tracey after he posted 36 goals and 81 points last season as a rookie.

Tracey is not expected back in Moose Jaw in time for the opening weekend, but he will be leaned on to lead a group that returns seven forwards and will be joined by Korczak and Jadon Joseph with WHL experience, along with six rookies, including 2018 first-round pick Eric Alarie.

Millar feels like there is a lot of potential in the Warriors' forward group.

"Our forward group is going to have to work really hard, we have some players that can generate some offence, Joseph, Tracey and Korczak are going to lead the way there, but we've got some depth there," said Millar.

"We're going to need Carson Denomie, Keenan and Kaeden Taphorn, Tate Popple and Cameron Sterling to work and compete really hard."

Defence led by Hunt

The Warriors have five returning defencemen on their roster, but Daemon Hunt is the only returning player from the team's top-four on the back end last season.

Hunt spent the offseason suiting up with Team Canada at the 2019 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and the 2019 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.

Millar said the Brandon, MB product has grown a lot heading into this season, "When you talk about those group of defencemen that have grown up in our organization, down the road, we'll be adding Daemon to that list," he said.

"Whether it's on or off the ice, he makes the right decisions, he's committed to being a player, he does things the right way, he's smart, we just have to keep in mind that he's 17 years old."

Hunt is joined by fellow returnees Matthew Sanders, Alek Sukunda, Drae Gardiner and Matthew Benson, who are all Warrior draft picks.

Braden Millar, Cory King and Cole Jordan are three 17-year-old rookie defencemen that will round out the team's back-end.

"It's a young group back there, Daemon as a 17-year-old is going to be a top pairing guy and we've got a real exciting group of '02s in Jordan, King and Miller," Millar said.

Update on Evanoff

The Warriors were dealt a blow in the offseason with 19-year-old netminder Adam Evanoff undergoing hip surgery that is expected to keep him out for an extended period early in the season.

Millar said that Evanoff is doing well and has rejoined the team.

"He's going to be back a lot sooner than we thought and credit to him in terms of his work ethic," Millar said. "Surgery went very well, his rehab has gone exceptionally well, he's in a program working with our coaches and particular Brooke Kosolofski, continuing towards full practice and getting ready for games."

In the meantime, Millar said they will be patient with him, "We're probably going to have to reign him in a little bit, he's probably going to want to play this weekend, but he can't and we'll make sure he'll get back into the net at an appropriate time," he said.

Evanoff posted a 19-10-2-1 record with a 2.62 goals against average and a 0.916 save percentage over 36 games with the Warriors last season.

The Warriors will enter the season with 20-year-old Bailey Brkin and 17-year-old Jackson Berry between the pipes. Brkin, who won 20 games in the regular season and helped the Spokane Chiefs to the Western Conference Final, will bring stability for the Warriors in goal as Evanoff recovers and Berry settles in during his first WHL season.

"Berry is a guy that we drafted and signed at 15, he's going to get an opportunity here along the way," Millar said. "Brkin's numbers were equal to all the top 20-year-old goaltenders that were available. He had an outstanding year in Spokane."

Warriors move on from veteran pair

In the lead-up to the regular season, there is always a tough decision and the Warriors made a pair of them this week.

The team traded 18-year-old Kjell Kjemhus to the Saskatoon Blades and placed 20-year-old forward Luke Ormsby on waivers. Both players were acquired via trades last season.

Millar said both players were hard to let go of.

"I understand our fans appreciated [Kjemhus] in terms of his work ethic, the reality was with what we're doing here and the group of young players that we have there wasn't much of an opportunity for him here," he said.

Ormsby was one of three overage players that the Warriors had on their roster after acquiring Jadon Joseph on Saturday.

Millar said the decision to let go of Ormsby is the hard part of junior hockey.

"You can only have three 20-year-olds and with the goaltending situation, the addition of Joseph, what we want to do here in the next few weeks with our roster, it just didn't work with our team and Luke," said Millar.

Opening Weekend Arrives for Warriors

The Warriors will square off with their Trans-Canada rivals, the Regina Pats, during the opening weekend of the season for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Moose Jaw travels to the Queen City to take on the Pats at the Brandt Centre on Friday night and then they host Regina at Mosaic Place on Saturday for the home opener.

Tune in live to the game on Country 100 and mjwarriors.ca. The Pre-Game Show hits the air at 6:40 p.m.

There will also be pre-game soiree with music and a beer gardens prior to Saturday's home opener. It runs from 4-6 p.m.

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Western Hockey League Stories from September 20, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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