The Moose Jaw Warriors had a couple of hours of practice yesterday afternoon to try to make their starts to games better.

Warriors head coach Tim Hunter had said after the game their returning players didn't show the leadership needed in their games against Prince Albert last week.

Forward Keenan Taphorn, who scored 15 goals for the Warriors last year, said veterans like him have to be better earlier in games.

“Obviously it wasn’t the start we wanted, especially from our older guys,” said Taphorn. “All of us have to be better right from the puck drop. So, this week we’re really going to focus on competing, competing hard, winning our battles, and just being ready to go right from the start.”

Taphorn and the rest of the veterans appeared to be taking the lessons from the loss to heart.

“We were disappointed in ourselves, too,” Taphorn said. “We’ve got to really step it up this year. We’re going younger this year, so us older guys, we really have to show the ropes to the younger guys and compete hard right from the start and show them what this league is about.”

They don’t have a lot of time left to sort things out, as the games start counting in the standings after this weekend.

The Warriors return to the airwaves on Country 100 Friday night at 7 p.m. against the Brandon Wheat Kings. James Gallo has the pre-game show at 6:40 p.m.