Cranbrook Bucks open regular season tonight: Head coach Roshen Jaswal previews the season

Tonight, the Cranbrook Bucks open the 2026–27 regular season (Sept. 18), travelling to West Kelowna to face the Warriors.

The game also marks a milestone for Bucks head coach Roshen Jaswal, who will lead the team in his first regular-season game after wrapping up the preseason.

“It’s been a lot of fun. I mean, they’re a great group of kids, so they make it easy to kind of lead them and guide them,” says Jaswal.

“Being behind the bench and running practices, doing all that stuff, it’s been a ton of fun. And like I said, it’s a great group of kids who’ve really bought into what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

Last season was among the most successful in Bucks history. The team reached the second round of the postseason for only the second time, then advanced to the conference finals.

Ahead of the opener, Jaswal spoke with Pattison Media about the new season and his eagerness to put the team’s training into practice.

“I think it’s just excitement. I think everyone’s really bought into what we’re doing. And like I said, we’re not going to win a championship on Friday, but it’d be nice to put together a good showing for the first game to really show the work that we’ve been putting in both as a team and as staff,” he adds.

The Bucks finished the preseason with one win and two losses, but Jaswal says the exhibition schedule is about finding balance and building toward the style the team needs to play.

“We’re going to take time over the next eight months to really hone in on how we want to play,” adds Jaswal.

“It’s finding the fine balance of not overloading them too much with tactical stuff because you want to see what their skills are and how they can play individually, but also giving them enough structure that they can shine within what we’re trying to play and how we’re trying to play.”

“But I think that for us, it was more about evaluating our players and valuing where we’re at…guys that we know are going to be here, some of the older guys, maybe not playing them in certain games and maybe not putting them on power play in certain games, just to kind of get a look at some of the younger guys in some different spots.

“So definitely less on the results and more on the process when it comes to the preseason.”

Jaswal says the focus ahead of the season opener is relentless hockey and strong puck management.

“I mean, you saw the difference in the game and even against Trail in the preseason there. Like we really weren’t managing the puck well in the first half. And then in the third, we took over the game and were able to obviously win,” Jaswal says.

“You see the difference when you’re taking care of your pucks, when you’re not turning pucks over the blue lines, when you’re being, we call it, playing high-percentage hockey with the puck versus when you’re not.”

The Bucks begin the season on the road tonight (Sept. 18), travelling to West Kelowna to face the Warriors.

“So Kelowna is going to be a big, strong team, and they always are. So we’re going to have to make sure that we’re pre-scanning, we’re looking around, we’re knowing what we’re doing with the puck before we get it; otherwise, we’ll probably run into some trouble.”

Puck drop is at 8 p.m. tonight.

Cranbrook will back it up with another road game on Saturday (Sept. 20) as they take on Salmon Arm in their second regular-season game.