Brayden Yager did something that no other 16-year-old has ever done in Moose Jaw Warriors’ history on Friday night, scoring a hat trick in his home debut.

Yager potted three goals to lead the Warriors to a 7-1 triumph over the Saskatoon Blades to kick-off the 2021-22 Western Hockey League season.

After having the weekend to let the accomplishment soak in, Yager said it was a pretty special moment for him.

“Especially in front of the crowd for the first time, it was good to get the first one and then a couple more, so it felt really good,” he said.

Head coach Mark O’Leary said it was fun to watch his rookie put together a memorable performance like that in his first game in front of the home crowd.

“It was exciting, I don’t think he’s got the smile off his face even now,” O’Leary said after practice on Tuesday.

“The people that I’ve bumped into around the city, they were certainly excited to see what he had to do and I’m pretty confident that it’s only going to get better.”

After playing 24 games and finishing second on the team in scoring with 18 points as a 15-year-old in the Subway WHL Hub, expectations were high coming into this season for Yager.

Fans expectations have now went through the roof after his big debut.

To his credit, Yager said he’s going to take it one game at a time.

“Obviously it’s nice to start strong and try to keep building as you go on,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to try and do here and hopefully we can get it done.”

The Warriors finished the opening weekend with a home-and-home split against the Blades after falling 4-2 on Saturday in Saskatoon.

O’Leary said while the result was better on Friday, he feels the team actually played a better game during Saturday’s loss.

“I didn’t think we were very good especially to start the game, I thought we left a lot of opportunities for Saskatoon, but we cleaned them up pretty well for game two, we just didn’t put the puck in the back of the net,” he said.

Moose Jaw will draw another rival coming up this weekend as the Regina Pats come to Mosaic Place for the first of ten meetings between the Trans-Canada rivals this season.

It will also mark the first meeting of the season between Yager and Pats forward Connor Bedard.

“It’s been cool leading up to this game, we’ve been talking a little bit, it’s always fun playing the Pats, it’s a rivalry between the two teams, so it’ll be real fun,” Yager said.

Yager was selected two picks behind Bedard in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft. While the comparisons come from the outside, Yager said he doesn’t worry about it.

“I try not to think about comparing myself to anybody, just trying to be the best version of myself every day and keep getting better as I go on in the season,” he said.

Yager and the Warriors face off with the Pats on Friday night at Mosaic Place.

The Rivalry Package is on sale now at MJWarriors.ca, featuring all five home games against the Pats this season.