One thing Hardy Sauter is sure of is how un-sure his roster is going to be for this week’s first two regular season games. Spokane will travel to Cranbrook on Thursday to take on the Kootenay Ice at 6:30 to kick off the WHL season and then follow it up with a trip to Portland on Saturday night for the Winter Hawks home opener.

The Chiefs could get a handful of their seven veterans attending pro camps back in time, and then again, they could play well enough to stick around with the NHL club for a while.

Its junior hockey’s double-edged sword, but Sauter isn’t using their temporary absence as an excuse, “No matter how many guys are gone or how many injuries we have, we’re going to go in expecting to win a game,” he said. “We have to come up with a game plan, play disciplined and have the mindset that we’re going to win a game.”

Goaltender Dustin Tokarski (Tampa Bay), Mitch Wahl (Calgary), Justin Falk (Minnesota), Tyler Johnson (Phoenix), Jared Spurgeon (New York Islanders), Drayson Bowman (Carolina) and Justin McCrae (Carolina) are all away at their respective camps. Bowman and McCrae left earlier this week for camp and will Thursday’s opener.

Despite that, Sauter thinks, “Our defense is very good. Our first two lines will have lots of experience and after that we’ll have to make up for anything that we’re missing with hardwork and discipline.”

Spokane still boasts four defensemen that played in last year’s Memorial Cup final, including veterans Trevor Glass, Mike Reddington, Jared Cowen and Stefan Ulmer.