warriors tigers

The Warriors and Tigers in action earlier this season. (Photo: DiscoverMooseJaw.com)

Friday night, the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs returns to Moose Jaw for the first time since 2006.

The Moose Jaw Warriors have been off since last weekend, and have been working hard at Mosaic Place preparing for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Overage forward Cam Braes says it's been tough during the long layover between games.  "Coming off the last game we played I would have like to get at it right away but it was important for guys who had bumps and bruises to rest up for a couple of days."

"It gave us some time to prepare for Medicine Hat and their systems they play.  The timing is important to prepare but it's also kind of tough just waiting around," added Braes.

Braes spent the last four and half years with Lethbridge before coming to the tribe at the WHL trade deadline.  He battled against the Tigers on several occasions during his time with the Hurricanes, and says who know's more than most on what to expect from Medicine Hat.

"I think I've played them over 35-40 times in my career, they're not going to surprise me in any way.  They're a hard working team with a lot of fire power up top with (Emerson) Etem and (Hunter) Shinkaruk, they're going to be a tough test."

Braes says that they haven't received their assignments yet, but admits he'd be excited if he was called upon to try and neutralize the Tigers dynamic duo.

"It doesn't really matter to me what Coach (Mike) Stothers wants me to do, if he wants me to be a scorer or a checker, I'll do whatever helps the team win.  I've gone up against that line quit a bit over my career, I enjoy pushing Etem's buttons and Shinkaruk's as well.  It's always a fun battle against Medicine Hat especially coming from Lethbridge, if I get that opportunity I'm definitely not going to make life easy for them."

In the first round against Regina, the Warriors' depth played a huge role in their success, as they currently have six players averaging a point a game in the playoffs.  To Braes that shows that they everyone's on board and they have no passengers.

"The biggest thing is that we don't have any weak links right now, we can roll four lines.  We're confident with all four of our lines and our six defence as well, even on the road we feel we can throw out any matchup and be comfortable with it.  I think depth speaks volumes on how much enjoy your going to save in the playoffs and I think that's something we have a lot of in Moose Jaw." 

Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat's Eastern Conference semi final series opens Friday night at Mosaic Place, Game 2 goes Saturday night.  The series heads west on the Trans Canada to Medicine Hat next week for Games 3 and 4.

Elsewhere, Brandon heads to Edmonton, Kamloops travels to Portland and Spokane visits Tri-City for the opening games of their series.