A few injuries to their forward troops during their lengthy U.S. Division tour left the Prince George Cougars with no choice but to call in replacements.
They’ve tapped their list of affiliated players to bring in 2006-born forward Zachary Shantz and 2005-born Hunter Laing, who are expected to join the Cats in time for their game against the Tri-City Americans Tuesday in Kennewick, Wash.
Both were acquired by the Cougars in the WHL draft and both have played games for the team this season.
The 16-year-old Shantz, a five-foot-10, 145-pound native of Sucker Creek, Alta., skated in his first career WHL game Nov. 27 in Kelowna. He’s been playing centre in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League for the Northern Alberta Xtreme U18 Prep team in Devon, Alta. In 20 games he has 16 goals and 28 assists for 44 points.
He was selected in the third round, 66th overall in the 2020 WHL prospects draft.
Laing, 15, made his WHL debut Jan. 22 in Kamloops. He was a second-round pick of the Cat in 2021, 33rd overall. The six-foot-six, 190-pound Kelowna native has been a productive winger this season for Rink Academy’s U16 team, based in Kelowna, and leads the team in scoring with 14 goals and 30 points in 22 games.
Shantz and Laing will fill in for injured forwards Jonny Hooker and Cayden Glover. Hooker left Friday’s game late in the second period with an apparent leg injury and missed Saturday’s game in Everett. Glover suffered an upper-body injury in Saturday’s game. Both are considered day-to-day injuries.
Centre Connor Bowie, who returned Friday after missing four games with COVID, suffered an upper-body injury Saturday and will be a gametime decision for Tuesday’s game, and the same uncertainty applies to winger Fischer O’Brien. Defenceman Aiden Reeves (foot injury) did not make the trip.
“We’re pretty beat up right now, we need some players,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb.
The Cougars also play the Spokane Chiefs Wednesday in Spokane. Their six-game trip wraps up with visits to the Seattle Thunderbirds Friday and the Everett Silvertips on Saturday.
Prince George started the U.S. Division swing with a 4-1 loss to the Portland Winterhawks on Friday and also lost 6-1 to Everett on Saturday. Everett was ranked No. 3 in last week’s Canadian Hockey League poll and the Winterhawks were slotted at No. 7. Both teams are loaded with older, experienced players and at times they manhandled the Cougars, the youngest team in the Western Hockey League.
“It was a huge learning experience, that’s for sure,” said Lamb. “You can see where they’re at, but until you really feel it you don’t really know. Hopefully after those two games, we’ve moving on in this roadtrip. Especially when you’re losing players, it’s our (lack of) experience that really hurts and it’s real tough task for us.”
The Cougars (17-21-1-1) still rank sixth in the Western Conference, despite losing their four most recent games. The Americans (12-22-4-0) are ninth and the Chiefs (11-23-3-1) are 10th and the Cougars hope that increases their odds of success on the ice after already being humbled by the top two teams in the division.
One bright spot on the trip has been the stellar goaltending from Tyler Brennan, who made 43 saves in the loss to Portland, and Ty Young, who blocked 48 of 54 shots in Everett. Lamb also like the Cougars’ special teams play. They allowed two power-play goals on eight chances combined in the two games and scored once on six chances with the extra skater.
“We have to play a much simpler game when you’re playing teams like that,” said Lamb. “The speed factor and thinking has really got to get quicker because they’re on top of you so fast.”
LOOSE PUCKS: The games this week will be broadcast live on 94.3 FM The Goat and on CHL TV. Cougars play-by-play announcer Fraser Rodgers is out with a respiratory infection not related to COVID and is providing the broadcasts by watching the games on a large TV screen at the Cougars’ CN Centre office.
