It's been a long road back for 18-year-old Brayden Cuthbert. The Moose Jaw Warriors' forward has been out since suffering a concussion on February 4th, 2011 in Red Deer against the Rebels.

Cuthbert has been back on the ice in Moose Jaw this week with some of his Warriors teammates as they get set for training camp coming up at the end of the week. He says it was nice to be back with the guys, "It's great, I haven't skated with them since last camp and was looking forward to this weekend for a really long time, so it felt really good out there," said Cuthbert after an ice time with some of the team on Monday.

Cuthbert had to sit out last season as he struggled with post-concussion syndrome. He says that was one of the hardest things he's ever done.

"Mentally it was very, very strenuous," explained 2009 fifth round WHL bantam draft pick. "Since I was five years old I haven't missed a hockey season and to sit one out, in probably one of my bigger years, it was heartbreaking, but I had good support of family and friends around me, so I tried to stay around the rink a little bit and keep skating and hopefully things will turn out good."

The long road back for Cuthbert started midway through the winter when he started skating again. He was then able to get in some contact as the Warriors 2011-12 season came to an end this spring. "The last half of the previous season I skate with the AAAs (in Brandon). Started with just light stuff and as the season progressed I felt better and better, and then in the summer time, I skated pretty well throughout the entire summer and just kept feeling better, and then got into a little bit of a workout, so I'm feeling pretty good right now."

While it was difficult to sit out the entire season in what would have been his NHL draft year, Cuthbert says he knows it was the right decision, "It was hard taking off the season, but I think that's the best thing I could do for my head, so we don't have any reoccurring events, so just going to try and work my butt off and hopefully things will happen."

Cuthbert appeared in 39 games with the Warriors during the 2010-11 season as a 16-year-old, picking up two goals and four points. He says he's hungry coming in to camp to prove he can still contribute, "I haven't played in the league since I was 16, so I'm going to be a couple steps back, so it's going to be tough to get back up to where I was and as an 18-year-old I'm going to have to create my way a little more and really work hard."

Cuthbert will be on the ice with the Warriors when they open main camp on Friday. The tribe's rookie camp gets underway on Thursday at Mosaic Place.

Story courtesy Marc Smith, DiscoverMooseJaw.com