With a lot of turnover on their roster, the Moose Jaw Warriors will be looking for new faces to take the reigns this season.

Back are staples from last year's team like Justin Almeida, Ryan Peckford, Josh Brook and Jett Woo, but the Warriors will be leaning on new players to take the next step and help carry the load this season.

18-year-old forward Nick Bowman was acquired in the offseason from the Edmonton Oil Kings. He brings experience to Moose Jaw and will be looking to take advantage of his new opportunity.

"Since they had such a strong team last year, some of that forward scoring depth has been lost, so for an 18-year-old like myself, it's a good opportunity to step and fill that void," said Bowman.

Bowman brings a hard-working, two-way game, which is what the Warriors will be built around this season.

"I really like their style so far, it's a good fit for me," said Bowman. "We're encouraged to play fast, get on the opposition quickly and catch them off guard."

18-year-old defenceman Brendan Kwiatkowski played 22 games with the Warriors last season before being reassigned to the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Kwiatkowski said while he didn't get to play a ton, his game really developed from being in Moose Jaw.

"It was good, a lot of learning experiences during my time here, I'm just a lot more confident this year coming back and having the experience under my belt now," said Kwiatkowski.

"You learn how to compete every day and just try to take in some key things from the older guys."

The Warriors are loaded on the backend this season with Brook, Woo, Brandon Schuldhaus and Matthew Benson all returning as well as first-round pick Daemon Hunt stepping in.

Kwiatkowski feels he's done enough to earn a role on the team, "Hopefully, I can be in the lineup regularly this year and show what I've got," he said.

The Warriors will open the regular season with a home-and-home against the Brandon Wheat Kings this weekend.

Bowman said the team is ready to get the regular season underway and show what they're capable of, "Everyone here is excited to get it going on Friday," he said.

"We've been working on all the little areas of our game, making sure that we're ready to compete come Friday. We got a good look last weekend of what their team is going to look like and they've had a good look at what our team is going to look like, so hopefully, we can make some adjustments and capitalize on those."

The Warriors and Wheat Kings face-off on Friday in Brandon and on Saturday at Mosaic Place.