By Matthew Gourlie /

Moose Jaw Warriors GM Chad Lang will travel to all four western provinces and the U.S. in the next month to look at young 
hockey talent.

And that is only half of the itinerary for the Warriors scouting staff as they take a final look at players before the end of the season.

“The month of April is a crazy month with everything that goes on,” Lang said. “I think I’m home five days of the month.”

After finishing at the bottom of the league this past season, the Warriors have some big decisions to make. They are looking to add some cornerstones to the young nucleus they are building with the second-overall pick in both the WHL Bantam draft and the Canadian Hockey League’s Import Draft.

“With the amount of picks that we have early, we feel it’s a great opportunity to add to the depth of our hockey club,” said Lang whose club owns three of the first 44 
bantam picks.

“We’re hoping we can have the same success we had with the ’92 group. We also have the opportunity to draft one or two Europeans and make our hockey club a lot stronger.”

Lang began the month attending the Director’s Cup in Manitoba, then saw the Western Bantam championships in Weyburn.

Following the IIHF Under-18 championships in the U.S., Lang will be attending the B.C. Best Ever tournament and the Alberta Cup before the draft April 30 in Edmonton.

For their immediate future, the Warriors have every player on their roster eligible to return for the 2009-10 season. Overage import Martin Filo is unlikely to come back, but Lang isn’t even ruling out his return.

“The message we left with our players is that we need to be better as a hockey club for next season,” Lang said. “Everybody’s been through the process now and understands the expectations of the organization.”

With all of those returnees, competition for jobs should be fierce at camp. Despite the Tribe’s 19-50-1-2 record, Lang is confident in their young core and their 50-man 
protected list.

“We like our group,” Lang said. “We made moves last season to set ourselves up in a situation to bring back that core group. We feel we’ve got some young guys on our 50-man roster that are ready to make the step and are going to compete for spots. Those returning guys can’t take anything for granted.

“There’s no guarantees. Each and every one of them has to come into camp ready and prepared to compete for those spots. They were a member of our hockey club last year, but in saying that, as an organization, we understand what the expectations are and we need to improve.”