Cougars #1 Draft Pick

News 2002-03

May 1 2003

Cougars #1 Draft Pick

Welcome to draft day! The Prince George Cougars are proud to announce that they have selected their first player in the 2003 Bantam Draft Pick. In the first round the Cougars held the sixth overall pick and used it to select Tyler Swystun (SWISS-tun), a forward burning up the Bantam ranks in Alberta. Tyler lives in Cochrane, Alberta and he has been a leader this season on the Airdrie Xtreme, the Western Canadian Bantam Champions. “Tyler is a highly skilled forward and he was a leader on his team this year,” says Dallas Thompson, Assistant General Manager for the Cougars. “He has high speed, he reads the ice well, and exciting things happen when he is around the puck. We are proud to select him; he is a terrific addition to our organization.” The Swystun household feels good about the Cougars selection. Tyler’s mom, Sherri, was ecstatic with the news of his high draft position. “I’m obviously very excited that he has been drafted this high,” she says, and remarks that the Cougars will be a nice fit for Tyler. “There are a few kids that we know or have heard of on the Cougars team. I’ve been to Prince George before and we know about it. We’re excited, overwhelmed, it’s a great feeling.” Tyler is just under 6’0’’ tall, his natural position is centre, and he set the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League’s goal scoring record this past season (55 goals, 101 points in 36 games). He is expected to take home much of the hardware at the upcoming AMBHL awards event. This time last year the Cougars were announcing the name “Nick Drazenovic” to the world. There were 15 Cougars draft picks that suited up for the team this past season. Several key Cougars draft picks have gone on to hockey success (Tyler Bouck, Eric Brewer, Mike LeClerc, etc.) and this year’s selections will be expected to strive for those standards. Stay tuned to hear about more Cougars action on draft day…press releases will be forthcoming as the day progresses.