The Portage Terriers will take to the ice tonight in Manitoba Junior Hockey League Exhibition play. They're battling the Neepawa Natives in their final game before the regular season gets underway on Sep. 21st.

Ty Barnstable is a veteran with the Terriers, having suited up for the Dogs since partway through the 2016-17 season. He sees the opportunities that he has to build into the younger players.

"I'm hoping to show them a good work ethic," says Barnstable. "Working hard at your craft and helping that way. Being there for them, answering any questions they have and showing them the way that things are done here."

Barnstable notes this year's crop of rookies looks ready to compete and have loads of talent.

"We've got a lot of skill," says Barnstable. "When you have skill, it's always a good thing and it helps put pucks in the net. That's the biggest thing for a team is to be able to score, if you can do that then everything will hopefully fall into place."

The Terriers have a record of 1-2 so far in exhibition play with their only victory coming in the all-rookie game against Virden. The last time these two teams played, Neepawa captured a 6-5 overtime victory. With lots of new faces in the Terriers line-up this season, there are bound to be some growing pains and there will be a significant period of evaluation. Barnstable says the players are coming together and building much-needed chemistry.

"It's very different than last year and even the year before," adds Barnstable. "I think everyone has been pretty close off the bat here. We've been doing lots of things to get to know each other and I think our chemistry has been really good so far."

That chemistry will be put to the test tonight starting at 7:30 p.m. in Neepawa.