The Moose Jaw Warriors are the only Western Hockey League team so far to cross the 40-win plateau, but with 20 games remaining in the regular season, there’s still plenty of work left to do.

In speaking with players after practice on Wednesday, the consensus from the team was that their speed and skill are their best attributes, and what has led to the team’s success.

There was also one thing that stood out among the players as well when asked what areas they need to improve in their game the most, and that is the team’s defensive play.

“Teams are going to be hard on us, they’re going to try to make us force plays and turn pucks over and when that happens, we need to be able to defend and get back, we all need to be committed and playing good D,” said defenceman Kale Clague.

The Warriors have allowed the second-fewest goals in the WHL this season with 157 goals against through 52 games. They also lead the league by a wide margin with a plus-90 goals differential.

By looking at those numbers, you wouldn’t think that there’s much room for improvement, but the players feel it comes down to being more committed to playing on the defensive side and not allowing their desire for more offence to take over.

“We need to be tracking back to home plate and that will help us defensively,” said goalie Brody Willms. “That will not only help us in the regular season, but it will be huge in the playoffs as well when defensive hockey tends to win championships, so we’re going to need a lot of that going forward.”

Warriors defenceman Josh Brook defends against an attacking player against the Prince George Cougars last Saturday. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The Warriors’ 247 goals this season are 19 more than the next closest team, the Victoria Royals, and Moose Jaw has three games in hand on Victoria.

Needless to say, goal scoring hasn’t been a problem at all this season.

“Our best attribute for our team is the way that we can hem teams in their own end and use our offensive ability, our D can help out on the rush and our forwards are pretty dynamic,” said forward Jayden Halbgewachs.

“Defensively though can be our weakness, we can get caught down low in the offensive end and allow odd-man rushes, so we need to make sure we have a third-man high and try to eliminate those down the stretch.”

Bringing a consistent effort for 60 minutes was another area that the players say they’re working towards doing on a more regular basis.

“We need to come out every shift and play our best hockey every time that we step out on the ice,” said defenceman Josh Brook. “We just need to be prepared every time and not want to lose a shift.

Identifying the issue is the first step and the Warriors continue to work to correct any deficiencies in their game as they move towards the post-season.

The Warriors will have another shot at working towards a complete game when they hit the ice this weekend against two Central Division foes, as Lethbridge comes to town on Friday and Kootenay on Saturday.