Warriors defenceman Morgan Rielly

One year after missing out on the chance to play in front of his adopted hometown crowd, Moose Jaw Warrior Morgan Rielly will get to throw on the Team WHL jersey at home tonight in Game 5 of the Subway Super Series.

Rielly, along with Warrior teammate – and leading scorer – Sam Fioretti will be on the ice with Team WHL against the Russian All Stars in Vancouver tonight.  Rielly will be wearing an 'A' as an assistant captain for the team in both Wednesday and Thursday's games.

“It's pretty cool to get the chance to go home to play a game and to get to play with some high end prospects,” said Rielly, who will be playing for the first time in Vancouver since Grade 8.  “Hopefully we have a good hometown crowd out there and it's pretty exciting for me.”

Rielly grew up in North Vancouver, but hasn't played there in a long time since coming out to Notre Dame to play Bantam and Midget hockey before joining the Warriors as a 16-year-old.  

The now 18-year-old defenceman missed out on his chance to play in the game last year after suffering his knee injury just before Super Series came to Mosaic Place here in Moose Jaw.  “I was pretty heartbroken when I didn't get the chance to play last year due to the injury, so to have the chance to play this year in my hometown is a pretty good feeling,” said Rielly.

“It's a huge bonus that (Fioretti) gets to travel out there with me and play, so that's extremely cool and I'm proud of him.”

Coming off being drafted fifth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2012 NHL Draft, Rielly is showing what made him a top pick so far this season with the Warriors.  He's posted four goals and 21 points in 24 games so far this season, which puts him third in the WHL among defencemen.

The Super Series is used as one of the first evaluations by Hockey Canada for the National Junior Team and Rielly says he's going to give his full effort in both games to prove that he belongs on his year's squad, “I don't think there's any junior hockey player that has a spot on that team, I think you have to earn everything, but I'm just going to go out there and play my game.”

Rielly has worn the Team Canada jersey, and played the Russians, once already this year when he took part in the 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge back in August, which was a four-game series to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series.  He played two games in Moscow followed by two games in Halifax.

“(The Russians) are a high risk team, they're quick paced and obviously pretty skilled,” explained Rielly.  “If you give them a chance on the power play, they're probably going to capitalize, so you have to be smart.  They're a high end team and we're going to have to play our best.

“It's great to be playing here in Canada and the home ice will be nice, so hopefully we can take it to them.”

The Russian All Stars split their four games with Team QMJHL and Team OHL so far in the six-game series.  Team WHL has an all-time record of 14-4 in 18 games against the Russians in the nine previous Super Series.  Puck drops at 9:00pm Saskatchewan time.