Late last season, the Moose Jaw Warriors were busy rewriting the franchise's record book.

With a younger team this season, the start of the campaign will be filled with a lot of firsts for players, including defenceman Alek Sukunda and forward Kale Clouston, who made their Western Hockey League debuts last weekend.

"Honestly, it was a dream come true," said Sukunda. "I grew up watching WHL games in Vancouver and it's hard to put into words what it's actually like to be on the ice and playing in the league now."

Warriors rookie forward Kale Clouston. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The 17-year-old defenceman said he could definitely tell the difference between the preseason and regular season when he stepped on the ice for Saturday's home opener.

"You could feel on the ice that the intensity was much higher, there was a lot more compete, so now the games really matter and it's off to the races," said Sukunda.

Clouston echoed Sukunda's feelings about finally suiting up in a WHL regular season game, "It was an unreal experience, I've wanted to step out on the ice for 4-5 years now with this team and to finally make it happen was surreal," said Clouston.

"The atmosphere with the fans and the opening ceremonies, everything was just perfect for me."

Both players held their own in the openers for the Warriors, who came out on the losing end in both games against the Wheat Kings, falling 2-1 on Friday in Brandon and 4-2 at Mosaic Place on Saturday.

Coming out of the weekend, Clouston said the team needs to focus on putting together a more complete game.

"We need to play a solid 60, in our first two games, we played probably only a total of 30 minutes in the two games," he said. "We finished strong in our last period of hockey, so hopefully we can carry that momentum into the next game for the first, second, and third periods."

DeRoose Off to Strong Start

The Warriors acquired Tristyn DeRoose just before the regular season last year and he served as a role player on the 52-win squad.

This season, DeRoose is getting more of an opportunity with a big roster turn over up front and he put together a strong showing in the team's season-opening games this past weekend.

Warriors forward Tristyn DeRoose in action during Saturday's home opener. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The six-foot-three forward played on a line with the Warriors' two rookie imports during Saturday's home opener and DeRoose said he feels like he was able to play his role.

"Personally, I feel like I was creating space," he said. "This is my third year in the league, so that makes things easier for me and I want to go out there and create space for my teammates."

DeRoose had four goals and seven points in 47 games last season for Moose Jaw. He said he spent last season trying to take in as much as he could from the team’s strong group of veteran forwards.

"Playing around (Jayden) Halbgewachs and (Brayden Burke), you get pointers for them for sure and that makes things easier, and then going out and practicing extra with (Scott King) and (Mark O'Leary), and coming into this year, you can see that helped a lot," said DeRoose.

"I want to chip in more offensively, I've got the rough side of my game that I know I can go to, but I want to help out more offensively too."

The Warriors will be back on the ice on Saturday to host the Prince Albert Raiders at Mosaic Place. They travel to Regina to face the Pats on Sunday afternoon.