Cougars Making Final Preparations

Feature Stories

Cougars Making Final Preparations by David Michaud

You can’t blame the Cougars staff and management if there is a whole “Twas the Night before Christmas” feel to the CN Centre this week. Arena staffs are putting the finishing touches on the ice and the organization as a whole can’t wait to get started.

On Sunday August 24^th, roughly 120 Cougar hopefuls will begin the process of trying to crack the 2008-2009 roster. This camp, the 15^th since the Cougars began calling Prince George home, has perhaps a different feel. While all but a few of the Cougars who defeated the Kamloops Blazers on the final day of the 07-08 regular season remain eligible to return, this is far from a veteran team and the competition should be intense.

“When you have a 20 win season, nothing is guaranteed for the player’s coming back” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck. I expect camp to be intense, which is great for the organization.”

161 days will have passed since the Cougars last hit the ice, plenty of time for General Manager Dallas Thompson to make a change here and a tweak there. While Thompson still hopes to bring in an impact player or two on the back end, the addition of 20-year old netminder Kevin Armstrong will certainly solidify the last line of defence. Armstrong along with 18-year old returnee, Ian Curtis should form one of the division’s best one-two punches in goal.

With the likes of Dana Tyrell, Justin Maylan and Parker Stanfield to name a few, the Cougars are confident that they will be able to light the lamp with a little more regularity this season. On top of that trio, the addition of Prince George native Brett Connolly should help bolster the offence as well. Connolly netted 16 goals and 16 assists for the Cariboo Cougars last season and helped lead them to within a win of an appearance at the Telus Cup. Nick Buonassisi notched 24 goals for the N.E. Chiefs of the BC Major Midget League last season and should benefit from playing in 4 games for the Cougars last season. He already took care of his first WHL goal, which came on Dec 15^th against the Kamloops Blazers.

Garrett Thiessen returns for his 3rd season with the Cougars and will anchor a defensive core that could return as many as 6 players from last year’s club. With Armstrong being the lone 20-year old on the Cougars roster, Defence is where Thompson hopes he can add a veteran player or two. Sophomore Art Bidlevskii returns after an impressive rookie campaign in which he was able to get 62 games under his belt. Matt Cumming and Trevor Bauer look to build off of their rookie seasons which saw them play in 39 and 22 games respectively. Rookie Bruin McDonald could be a player to watch on the young Cougars back-end. McDonald appeared in 6 games with the Cougars last year and impressed many. Bruin had a strong season with the N.E. Chiefs of the BC Major Midget league. He posted 16 points to go along with 112 penalty minutes in just 37 games.

The first on-ice session is scheduled for 6:00pm on the 24^th; training camp is open to the public.