With a couple defencemen on the injury list and the regular season rapidly drawing to a close, the Prince George Cougars have called in some reinforcements.
Locked into a battle just to make the Western Hockey League playoffs, with eight games left, the Cougars have brought in defenceman Linden Springer, goalie Tyler Santos, and forwards Alex Forsberg, John Odgers and Jarrett Fontaine.
Some of those players could be inserted into the lineup when Cougars host the high-flying Spokane Chiefs at CN Centre Friday and Saturday.
Springer, who has already played three games for the Cougars this season, was brought in as a possible replacement for Jesse Forsberg or Cody Carlson, both of whom are nursing upper-body injuries and are listed as questionable for this weekend.
The 16-year-old Springer has been playing this season in the Alberta Major Midget Hockey League for the Baker Hughes (Lloydminster) Bobcats, who were eliminated a week ago in the first round of playoffs.
"We were down to five D-men and we wanted some insurance in case those two guys [Forsberg and Carlson] don't play this weekend," said Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson.
Odgers, the son of former NHL'er Jeff, who played for San Jose, Boston, Colorado and Atlanta, is also getting a look from the Cougars after finishing the season with the Yorkton Harvest of the Saskatchewan triple-A midget league. Yorkton lost a seven-game first-round playoff series to Notre Dame. In 42 games with the Harvest, Odgers collected eight goals and 12 assists.
"We sent him back to work on some things and he had a really good year and played well right to the end," said Thompson. "So we're looking forward to getting him in."
Cougar fans might get another look at Alex Forsberg. The 15-year-old first-overall pick in the 2010 WHL bantam draft is just getting over a concussion that limited him to just two games for Team Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax. Forsberg, a forward, made his WHL debut for the Cougars at CN Centre in January in a 5-2 win over Moose Jaw.
He missed seven games with a shoulder injury and was out of the Beardy's lineup for 22 of 45 games, but still produced an average of 1.5 points per game, collecting 16 goals and 19 assists in 23 regular-season games. He led the Blackhawks with two goals and two assists in three playoff games, as Moose Jaw swept Beardy's in a first-round series.
"He has a concussion and [on Friday] he'll go through his impact test and hopefully pass," said Thompson. "We're hoping to get him 100 per cent healthy here. We think he can step into the lineup and contribute for us."
Fontaine played with Forsberg on Team Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax and was one of the team's top scorers with three goals and two assists. In 36 games this season for the Tisdale Trojans of the Saskatchewan midget triple-A league, Fontaine picked up 15 goals and 15 assists. He was the team's leading 15-year-old pointgetter.
Santos, part of the trade that sent 19-year-old forward Marek Viedensky to Saskatoon, was in Prince George a few weeks ago to work with goaltending coach Blaine Russell. The 15-year-old Santos played in the Alberta major midget league for the Knights of Columbus (Edmonton) Pats.
The Cougars are currently tied with the Kamloops Blazers for seventh place in the Western Conference standings, with the Chilliwack Bruins and Seattle Thunderbirds each five points behind.
The Cougars (29-31-2-2) are tied in points with Kamloops, each with 62, but are one notch ahead in the Blazers in the standings, based on their head-to-head record. Kamloops lost 6-2 to Kelowna on Wednesday, while the Bruins skated to a 3-1 win over Lethbridge in Chilliwack.
Spokane (40-17-4-2) is just three points behind Portland for first place in the West, having defeated the Cougars 8-0 last week in Spokane.
