The Prince George Cougars always knew defenceman Cole Moberg had an offensive upside.
They saw that for themselves when he earned himself a WHL contract after their 2016 training camp, coming off a 21-goal, 48-point season of midget triple-A hockey with the North Shore Winter Club.
Moberg had a lot of practice time with the Cougars as a 16-year-old and finished off his midget career with the Vancouver Northwest Giants, scoring eight goals in 20 games. He joined the Cougars full-time late in the 2016-17 season and has been with the team ever since.
Like any rookie WHL defenceman, there was a steep learning curve for Moberg last season but the kid from North Vancouver passed those tests and in the process put up two goals and 11 points in 64 games. Smart with the puck and blessed with above-average skating skills, the Cougars coaches want him to utilize his talents to jump into the rush and look where that's got him. Two weeks ago he scored two goals to get the Cougars into overtime with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and he sealed a 6-5 win with his shootout goal.
On Wednesday he notched his third goal and sixth point in 13 games but left the ice disappointed after a 4-3 shootout loss to the Tri-City Americans. The Americans scored on two of their three shootout chances, and the Cougars first two shooters were skunked, stranding Moberg who had been picked to go third in the order.
"Getting those first two goals of the season in Lethbridge boosted my confidence and then a another one (Wednesday), I just want to keep building off that," said Moberg, who should be in the lineup tonight in Kelowna where the Cougars will play the Rockets (7:05 p.m., 94.3 FM The Goat).
"Growing up, I was always an offensive defenceman and I'm building on it here to play like I want to play. The coaches have given me the green light, I just have to make sure it's out of the zone first, don't leave too early, but if I feel I can go and jump up, then go."
Moberg has had good mentors to watch on the Cougars to try to hone his Bobby Orr-like tendencies. Last season the Cats had Dennis Cholowski, who now plays for the Detroit Red Wings, directing traffic on the ice. Joel Lakusta and Ryan Schoettler picked up the mantle after Cholowski was traded in January.
The fact he knows how to dangle with the best of them when given a breakaway chance only adds to the value of Moberg, who just turned 18 on Oct. 17 and is NHL draft-eligible in 2019.
"He's playing well right now, he skates so well and sees the ice well and he's doing the right things and once he just settles in to being Cole Moberg, with a defence-first mentality, he's going to be real good," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk.
"He going to keep getting better as the year goes on. He's taken great strides so we just have to keep that curve going.
"He has to play harder defensively but that's going to come with age. It's hard to teach. He's only 18 and it's just a matter of time."
The Cougars just finished a three-games-in-four-days homestand that started Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos, followed by back-to-back games against the Tri-City Americans. The Ams won both, 5-1 on Tuesday, followed by the shootout win on Wednesday.
Snakebitten around the net throughout Tuesday's game, the Cougars admitted they ran out of gas in the third period Wednesday. They blew a two-goal lead and were badly outplayed in the final 20 minutes, no doubt feeling the effects of not getting enough rest between games with three games in four days.
"I'd say it was fatigue, we kind of dominated but turnovers caught up to us to the end and it just got away from us," said Lakusta. "People say we have a young team and a lot of them haven't been thrown into situations like that. We started off hot, two goals right away, and then we just got content and it slipped out of our hands and before we knew it we were tied."
In that game Wednesday the Cougars lost top-line centre Ilijah Colina when he went down with an upper-body injury after taking a hit in the second period and did not return. Rookie Czech import Matej Toman took Colina's place, centring the line with Josh Maser and Josh Curtis. Colina, 18, has been held to three goals and five points this season but had points in three of his last four games. He did not make the trip to Kelowna.
The Cats return home for three games next week, starting with a Tuesday date with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Next Friday and Saturday they host the Seattle Thunderbirds at CN Centre.
Matvichuk said his team outhit, outskated and outchanced the Americans Wednesday, but still lost 5-1. He's hoping his team will replicate its first two periods from that game when they take on the Rockets tonight.
It will be the second game for former NHL defenceman Adam Foote as head coach of the Rockets. He took over the team Tuesday to replace Jason Smith, who was fired. In his WHL coaching debut later that day the Rockets beat Swift Current 3-2 to improve to 5-10-0-0. The Cougars (5-6-0-2, third in B.C. Division) are two points ahead of fourth-place Kelowna, holding two games in hand over the Rockets.
