When the Portland Winterhawks rolled into town on Saturday, they brought with them a pair of highly touted defencemen. One, Derrick Pouliot, has already been drafted into the NHL, and the other, Seth Jones, is expected to go very high next year.
Saturday's game between the Winterhawks and the Moose Jaw Warriors was like a hometown game for Pouliot as he's a former AAA Warriors, now Generals, defenceman and from right down the road in Weyburn.
Pouliot says it's always nice when they get to make the trip through the East Division every two years, "I played (in Moose Jaw) three years ago, you build some memories and it's good to come back. Everything is the same here, except this new rink, it's my first time in it, but it's good to be back."
The Winterhawks came into town from the North, giving Pouliot a first hand look at the rink he called home for a season during his Midget AAA years. He says he had some good memories in the old Civic Centre, "I saw it and there's not much left of it, it was a good rink, I liked it a lot.
"Just remember the low roof and the ice was always good there, it was just a good rink to play in."
This summer was big for Pouliot as he went 8th overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL Draft back in June. He says that was an amazing experience, "It was pretty unbelievable, it's hard to describe. It was just really exciting, had a lot of fun at the Draft, and being selected by Pittsburgh, it was amazing and a memory that will last a life time."
Like everyone else that was drafted this year, Pouliot had to miss out on his first NHL Training Camp thanks to the lockout. He says that was pretty disappointing, "I was looking forward to going to training camp, getting that experience, but I guess that's how things are and hopefully they'll figure things out soon."
Joining Pouliot on the Portland blueline this season is top prospect Seth Jones, who joined the Winterhawks from the US Under-18 Development Team. The big 
Jones made the, much talked about, decision to play in the Western Hockey League over going to play college hockey in the NCAA earlier this year. He says he feels the WHL will better prepare him to make that jump into the NHL.
"It was just the game schedule," explained Jones. "We play 72 games, which is fairly close to the NHL schedule, so I just think it takes me one step closer to my goal to play in the NHL. We're about six games in here, but I'm going to really tell that I'm going to enjoy this year and get the most out of it."
Jones is a large defenceman, but can skate and move around the ice like a player much smaller and he feels that's his best attribute, "I like jumping in on the rush and creating some offence for the team. Getting shots through from the point.
"I think I need to work on moving the puck and not trying to do too much with it," said Jones. "Sometimes I try to make a couple more moves than I should, or beat a couple more guys than I should, and usually the result is a turnover, so I just need to move the puck a little quicker."
The Plano, Texas native is the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones and despite playing different sports, Jones says his father has given him some good advice about being a professional athlete, "He always just tells me it's a long season, you're going to go through ups and downs, and some stretch of games you might not like as much as others. You've got to bring in the same mentality each game and if you play a bad game, you need to have a short memory and if you play a good game, have a short memory."
These two defencemen won't be back through Moose Jaw again this season, barring a meeting in the WHL Final between the Warriors and Winterhawks, but they are definitely two players to keep an eye for the remainder of the season and on to the next level.
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