We're just two days out from the start of the Moose Jaw Warriors' first round playoff series against the Prince Albert Raiders.

After finishing the regular season with a lengthy injury list, the first place Warriors are looking much healthier heading into the post-season with the return of a number of key players to practice this week.

Forward Brayden Burke along with defencemen Kale Clague and Dmitri Zaitsev were all back on the ice, taking part fully in practice, to start the week while Brandon Schuldhaus and Tristin Langan are on the sidelines with lower and upper body injuries, respectively.

“It feels good,” said Burke on returning to the ice after missing five games with an upper body injury. “I’ve got a little bit of time to get my conditioning and game-sense up, so I've got to take advantage of these practices, but I feel good out there, so I'm happy.”

The addition of Burke back into the lineup alone is a huge boost for the Warriors after he posted 113 points in 61 games this season.

While he missed time due to an injury, head coach Tim Hunter said the break may have been a good thing for Burke, who was pedal to the metal right from the start of training camp.

“He'll come back and be refreshed and ready to go and excited,” said Hunter. “We gave some other guys time off from practice and they're flying out there now as well, so we're happy with where we're at in that regard and looking forward to puck drop on Friday night.”

After a record-setting regular season, the Warriors are heading into the playoffs with a lot of confidence and feel that if they play their game, they will find the success that they want.

“The body of work has given us a lot of confidence that we're a good team,” said Hunter. "We can score goals, we can defend well, we've had a good power play all year and our penalty killing has been good too. All thatput together just gives us confidence that if we play the game that we've played most of the year, play as a team and do whatever it takes to win a game, we'll win.”

Burke agrees that the biggest key for the Warriors in the best-of-seven series is them sticking to their game plan and putting together a complete effort.

“We've got a pretty good, strong group here and if we come out and play the way that we can, we're going to be alright,” he said. “We've just got to go out there and do the right things and be the players that we are out there.”

The Warriors and Raiders meet for Game 1 on Friday night at Mosaic Place. Tickets are still available for the game at mjwarriors.ca.