By Matthew Gourlie /

The Moose Jaw Warriors offence has been red hot to start the Western Hockey League season and the numbers speak for themselves.

The cause of the Warriors’ offensive explosion is a little harder to pin down.

Without any major changes in personnel, the Warriors are averaging more than two more goals per game than last season. After 12 games, the Warriors had 58 goals to lead the WHL in scoring.

Scoring has been a key factor in the Warriors’ 8-4 start after they posted the worst record in the league a season ago.

“A lot of people don’t realize how much confidence makes a difference,” offered Warriors co-captain Jason Bast. “To get rolling early on has made a huge difference for us.”

Bast has been on fire to start the season. He notched a pair of hat-tricks in the first 10 games and was named the WHL and CHL player of the week after putting up 12 points in four games.

While Bast has led the league in goals and points at times this season, it has hardly been a one-man show. The Warriors have shown a lot of depth and balance in their scoring.

Brendan Rowinski has regained his scoring touch. After being acquired by the Warriors as part of a deal that sent Joel Broda to Calgary, Rowinski tallied 13 points in 29 games. This season, Rowinski had 13 points after 10 games.

Travis Hamonic had 17 points in his first 12 games to lead all defencemen and Quinton Howden and Rowinski each had seven goals and nine assists after a dozen games. Spencer Edwards scored seven times in his first 10 games.

“We’ve got a lot of depth up front and all lines are scoring,” Howden said.

Howden credited his linemates Bast and Thomas Frazee for helping him produce, but also noted that he worked hard in the summer to improve his shot and that has been a boon to his confidence.

While depth and confidence have been important, head coach Dave Hunchak feels their improved defensive play is paying dividends in the offensive zone.

“I think it starts with how we’ve been in our own end,” Hunchak said. “When you break out cleaner and spend a lot less time defending, you’re going to spend more time in their zone.

“We skate really well, we get a lot of pucks to the net — we don’t score a lot of pretty goals.”

Hunchak noted that a season’s worth of experience brings added maturity and patience with the puck in the offensive zone.

Another key to their production has been their early power play success. The Warriors have averaged 1.5 power play goals per game. Last season they were 21st in the league on the powerplay.

The common thread of their success is down to two things — hard work and simplicity. That is what they hope to rely upon as the season continues.

Bast feels that continued offensive success will come down to “knowing what works for us and not getting away from it.

“Right now, it’s pretty easy to change things up and try to get fancy, but that’s not what has been working for us,” Bast said. “We have to keep things simple and keep chipping away.”