When the Prince George Cougars hit the road for their final two games of the regular season this weekend, there will be plenty of new faces on the bus.
On Wednesday, the Cougars announced they’ve called up defenceman Ephram McNutt, and forwards Gavin Schmidt and Zackary Shantz. On Tuesday the team announced they’d signed goaltender Madden Mulawka. With the new additions, the team’s roster sits at 28 players: three goaltenders, 10 defencemen and 15 forwards.
McNutt, 16, comes to the Cougars from the South Alberta Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League’s U18 Prep Division. The six-foot, 170-pound d-man from Red Deer, Alta. was the top-scoring blueliner on his team – picking up 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) in 36 games.
Schmidt, 18, signed with the Cats in November and made his WHL debut on Nov. 13 against the Kelowna Rockets. Schmidt was the assistant captain for the Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers in the Alberta Hockey League’s U18 AAA Division. Schmidt, who hails from Calgary, was second in scoring for the Oilers, notching 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 36 games.
Shantz, 16, was the top scorer for the Northern Alberta Xtreme in the CSSHL U18 Prep Division this season. The Sucker Creek, Alta. resident made opposing goalies look like the suckers, picking up 23 goals and 34 assists in 28 games. Shantz has already played five games with the Cougars and made his WHL debut on Nov. 27 against the Kelowna Rockets.
The Cougars will look to put the heat on the Kamloops Blazers on Friday and shoot down the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday.
The Cougars hit the road for their final two Regular Season games this weekend. Prince George faces the Kamloops Blazers on Friday and the Kelowna Rockets Saturday. The Blazers and Rockets have already punched their tickets to the playoffs, but a pair of wins could bump the eighth-place Cougars ahead of the seventh-place Spokane Chiefs or sixth-place Vancouver Giants in the Western Conference.
The top-eight teams in each conference advance to the playoffs, and the ninth-place Victoria Royals are only one win behind the Cougars with two games against the Chiefs left to play in the season.
