By Allison Werbowetsky /

Another year of hockey has started, and a season-opener win under the belts of the Swift Current Broncos has fans thinking maybe they’ll be all right after all.

The Broncos won 6-5 against the Moose Jaw Warriors to open their season on Sept. 19.

However, they’re not out of the woods yet. During the pre-season, the Broncos won only one of five games, losing once to the Warriors.

Broncos head coach Mark Lamb says exhibition games are only starting blocks for the team.

“Those games, you can over-analyze a lot of things. They had a veteran lineup and we had a young lineup. I thought our team competed really well and I wasn’t disappointed one bit,” Lamb said.

The Broncos lost some of their key players to NHL camps for those games. Justin Dowling was at camp in Pittsburgh, Cody Eakin was in Washington, Geordie Wudrick was scheduled to go to Los Angeles and Morgan Clark was with the Canucks in Vancouver.

“It’s starting to make things a bit thin as far as icing 20 healthy bodies, but we (brought) Shea Howorko back up to give him a little more exposure and experience, and just make up for the bodies we’re missing,” said assistant coach Tim Kehler.

Derek Claffey, Dane Muench, Reece Scarlett and Michael Stickland were out with minor injuries during those last pre-season games. However, all were back in the lineup for the season-opener.

The team has been working to fill some of the gaps evident in those pre-season upsets. They are paying particular attention to the defensive zone and building a solid structure.

“We’ve started to put some of the pieces in place as far as a forecheck goes, so we’re going to see a little more structure both in the way we pressure the puck up the ice and the structure we play in our own end,” Kehler said.

Overall, Lamb is pleased with the team’s progress so far.

The exhibition games were their first experience away from training camp games, and a win to open the season was just another notch in the learning curve.

“That’s what exhibition is all about. You always want to win the game, but for me it’s about knowing what I’ve got. It’s a whole learning experience,” he said.

The battle of the 20-year-olds seems to be under control for now as well, after the decision to trade Ryan Molle to Kootenay was made earlier this month.

“We’re where we need to be. We have three healthy 20-year-olds — Stickland, Claffey and Doyle — so those will be the guys that will occupy those positions certainly to start the year,” Kehler said.

Kehler chalked up the decision to keep them to their performance at camp and coming in prepared from the off-season.

“They certainly look to be the leaders on the team this year,” he said.

Claffey was named Broncos captain for a second year in a row. Doyle and Eakin, who were chosen as assistant captains last season, will once again wear an ‘A’ on their shoulders.