Core members of the Bow Valley Grizzlies have been practising since January and after winning a warm up seven-men tournament in Jasper over the weekend are anxious to get their 2017 rugby season underway.

The defending Southern Alberta Division 2 champs likely look to pick up where they left off and perhaps even avenge their narrow lost in the provincials to Edmonton's LEP/Tigers last fall.

But in the meantime, there's 12 regular season games in front of them and the first comes on the road this Saturday against the Calgary Saints. The home opener follows the week after, May 13, against the Calgary Irish.

Grizzlies coach Tyler Hawes says the numbers have been good for their regular practices and will get even better as more players return from school this week.

"The boys can't wait to get started," says Hawes. "It started to show at training. Some  frustrations were being worked out, which is good; I think there's a bit of healthy competition. The boys are chomping at the bit to get on the pitch and play ball."

Hawes believes the Griz will field a competitive team.

"The lineup should be pretty close to the same plus a few additions, hopefully," says Hawes. "I'm thinking we should be fairly strong and be able to compete with most teams, so we'll see how it goes."

Hawes says the Griz hope to use their tier 3 team, the Barbarians, better known to most as the Babaas, to develop future talent and help them climb the ranks in Alberta.

"That's what we're really working on is building that depth and that's what we're doing with that third tier squad, because we have a lot of young guys that have come through from the high school. They're getting game time, so we have to get them up to speed with what we're doing and just continue to build the depth moving forward."

The Babaas also open their regular season this Friday on the road against a combined Rams/Saints squad.