Swift Current Broncos rookie forward Ben King made his return to the lineup over the weekend after missing two months recovering from an upper body injury.

After suffering the injury in a January 5 game against the Regina Pats, King returned in a Friday loss to the Kootenay ICE and Saturday OT loss to Medicine Hat.

"It felt good to get back on the ice. Two months off, it's kind of hard watching, but it was good (Friday) to get back out there."

It didn't take long for the rookie to get back to his usual ways, recording an assist on a crucial third goal against Kootenay in Game 1 back in the lineup.

King says making somewhat of a seamless transition back on the bench can be attributed to the hard work he put in off the ice while sidelined with the injury.

"This league's hard, especially to come back from an injury, so I wanted to be ready," said the 16-year-old forward. "I thought I did a not bad job of that."

Prior to his injury, King was among the top rookie offensive threats in the WHL.

He was ranked in eighth place in rookie points back in late December. Flash forward to early February, and King's strong start still hold up in the rookie ranks.

Despite playing in just 41 games this season, the Vernon, BC-born King is T-20th in WHL rookie scoring with 24 points (5 G, 19 A). Those 19 assists rank T-11 among first-years around the league.

Perhaps more of a telling stat is his T-13 points-per-game average of 0.59.

Meanwhile on the Broncos' roster, the youngest forward is T-4 in points, T-3 in assists, and tops in points-per-game.

With the final seven games of the Broncos' season spread over the next 12 days, the time is now for King and the young team to set a strong tone to carry into the offseason and the 2019-20 regular season.

"Just push myself every shift, be the best I can, get a good summer in, and be ready for next year," King said of his continued goal.

The seventh-last game goes tonight as King and the Broncos are in the "Gateway to the North" taking on the Prince Albert Raiders.

Catch all the action between the Broncos and Raiders live on the eagle 94.1 for Robertson Family Group Broncos hockey, with pregame set for 6:30 p.m.