Growing pains are going to happen every time a new team comes together. The Vegas Golden Knights were the exception to that rule last season but the Yukon Rivermen aren't the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Rivermen, which is based out of Whitehorse with several players from Yellowknife among its numbers, played its first series of the new BC Hockey season against the East Kootenay Ice and Central Zone Rockets in Kelowna, B.C., last weekend and it was a tough slog but one which Shawn Talbot said was a good experience in the long run.

Talbot is one of the assistant coaches from Yellowknife along with R.J.Carr and said there was a bundle of nerves among the troops before hitting the ice for their first game.

鈥淚t's their first time together as a team and for a lot of these kids, they've never really seen AAA hockey before,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's hundreds of fans and scouts watching so they were deadly nervous.鈥�

The Rivermen ended up playing four games in a span of 36 hours, which made for a lot of tired legs, and it showed in the tail end of each of their games. They began against the Ice and dropped the opener on Oct. 26, 6-1, followed by an 8-3 defeat the next morning.

鈥淭he third period was our downfall every time,鈥� said Talbot. 鈥淲e always tell the kids to play all 60 minutes but this is a much different 60 minutes. It's full contact, stop-time, and the play is relentless. It's such a different game than what our kids are used to because there's no quitting or stopping when the play is on. It's go-go-go all the time.鈥�

Games three and four were against the Rockets and the scores ended up being pretty lopsided although one big positive for the Rivermen was the play of goaltender Devin Vogel.

Talbot said he was a busy boy all weekend long, especially against the Rockets, who are one of the top teams in the province.

鈥淗e was facing upwards of 60 shots in a game,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat's a ridiculous amount of shots for any goaltender to face but he was getting a lot of looks from the other teams and some scouts who were there. He stood on his head, for sure.鈥�

The coaching staff kept stats for each player, such as plus-minus and face-off percentages, to give the players a gauge for where they have to be, he added.

鈥淚t's about making the kids accountable and giving them a chance to self-prepare,鈥� he said.

The next series for the Rivermen will be at home in Whitehorse against the Prince George Cougars, which starts tonight, and that means a series against a familiar face.

Mirsad Mujcin, formerly of Yellowknife, is the head coach for the Cougars and Talbot said Mujcin's team will be a formidable foe.

鈥淭hey're being tagged as the favourites for the championship this year,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are the top bantam team in B.C. right now and we know how Mirsad does things so it'll be a fun series but we will have our hands full.鈥�