The South Central Alberta Hockey League Bantam Wheatland Warriors played their home opener match against the Taber Golden Suns on September 20.

The community gathered in full for the game at the Strathmore Family Centre. The match ended in victory for the Warriors with an 8-2 final score. 

Brett Thurston, Head Coach for the Bantam Wheatland Warriors, explained that the kids felt excited about the home opener. The team played one pre-season game against the Foothills Bisons before the start of their regular season. Thurston believes they brought some of that same energy into the match against Taber.

“Really good start, the guys came out hard and obviously played well. It was a fun time and it was a good start to our season,” said Thurston. 

Thurston feels that the Warriors will be at every major game, “I believe we’ve got a good group of kids that are invested and are going to work hard for each other, I think we will be a real competitive team and we have a lot of jive and ambition in that room.”

This is Thurstons first time coaching a team in Strathmore, “I grew up in the same system, I played minor hockey in Strathmore. It's kind of come full circle. I am pretty excited to see how it goes, and hopefully, the kids can learn a bit from myself and various coaching staff.”

The Warriors are playing their next regular-season game on the road on September 28 against the Central Alberta Selects.