Exceptional status has been granted just once before in the Western Hockey League.
Prince George Cougars fans might remember the first player who was allowed to play full-time as a 15-year-old in the WHL.
In his one and only Prince George appearance with the Regina Pats on Dec. 2, 2022, centre Connor Bedard led the Pats with a pair of goals in a 5-1 win over the Cougars in front of a record CN Centre crowd of 6,027. By that time Bedard was 17.
The following season, playing in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks, Bedard won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.
Everett Silvertips defenceman Landon DuPont might follow in Bedard’s tracks to fame and fortune in the NHL, but that won’t happen for a few years at least.
DuPont is still only 15 – two years away from being draft-eligible – and the fact the Silvertips play in the Western Conference along with the Cougars is a stroke of luck for Prince George hockey fans. It means there’s a good chance they will get to watch DuPont develop his game for at least for the next two seasons when they make their annual trip north.
DuPont will play his first game at CN Centre on Friday (7 p.m.), when the Cougars host the Silvertips in the first of a weekend doubleheader. It remains to be seen if his presence will pack the stands, but the chance to see the head-and-shoulders leader of this year’s rookie crop is certainly creating a buzz around town.
Through 49 games, the Calgary native has 12 goals and 38 assists for 50 points (fifth among WHL defencemen) and is rated a plus-24. Those would be impressive stats for a 20-year-old, let alone a freshman, and he’s helped the Silvertips climb to the top of the league. The only other WHL rookie d-man to break 50 points was Scott Niedermayer of the Kamloops Blazers in 1989-90 when he finished with 69 points.
“He’s a special player and I think any fan would want to come out to see him, especially how young he is and how well he’s adjusted to our league,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb, who saw DuPont in action Jan. 18 in Everett, where the Silvertips beat the Cougars 4-1.
“He’s got real good feet, he’s an unbelievable skater, he’s got the skill set, he’s a special guy. That’s why they granted him status and it’s well-deserved. He did the same thing in the (Canadian Sports School Hockey League playing as 14-year-old in the U-18 Prep team at Edge School). You never know how they will transition into our game and he’s done that very well.”
With their 4-1 win last Friday in Kamloops the Silvertips became the first WHL team to clinch a playoff spot. They sport a WHL-best 37-9-4-3 record and with 81 points they’re 15 points ahead of the Cougars (30-15-4-2, fourth in Western Conference).
“Players make your team stand out and they’ve got very good players that are intertwined in how they think in Everett and their winning tradition and how they play,” said Lamb. ”This team plays hard and fast and even though it’s a different coach (former Calgary Hitmen head coach Steve Hamilton) that’s how they play and that’s what you’re up against every night.”
Anaheim Ducks pick Tarrin Smith is right behind DuPont in team scoring with 48 points, including 14 goals, and the Silvertips have two other NHL-drafted defenceman in Kaden Hammell (Seattle fifth round, 2023) and Eric Jamiesson (Calgary, sixth round, 2024).
LW Carter Bear is drawing draft attention as the ninth-leading scorer in the WHL with 37 goals and 76 assists in 46 games. Three other Everett forwards are producing a point-per-game-or-better pace, including C Tyler McKenzie (27-39-66) LW Dominik Rymon (25-32-57) and RW Jesse Heslop (24-29-53).
Although they’ve only lost nine games in regulation, three of them have happened over the past two weeks and the Silvertips have gone 3-3 in their past six games over that stretch.
The Cougars ditched a four-game losing steak in January and have won five of their last six games and have points in all six.
“When you’re on any type of stretch you’re doing lots of good things and the biggest thing for us is playing away from the puck and cutting down the goals against and chances against and when we play like that we create a ton,” said Lamb.
“That’s the way we have to play and that the way we’ve been playing for a while. It doesn’t matter what team you play against you have to play the same way all the time and keep playing like that over and over, and that’s how you build confidence.”
On special teams the Cougars’ power play has been better lately and they rank 13thwith a 22.9 per cent success, right behind Everett (23.9 per cent). Penalty killing has been consistently good for Prince George this season. They’re fifth-best in the WHL (80.5 per cent) while the Silvertips are ninth (77.8 per cent).
Through 51 games the Cougars have the fourth-most penalty minutes in the WHL, averaging 13.8 per game, while Everett ranks eighth, averaging 10.1 minutes.
“When we were on our (losing) streak that was the main reasons we didn’t have the gas to kill off all those penalties because we were taking too many stupid ones, that’s not a recipe to win,” said Lamb.
“We’d still like to get more power plays than we do PK’s and that’s not the case, and it’s something we’re looking forward to.”
The Silvertips will be without one of their top scoring forwards, centre Julius Miettinen, a second-round pick of the Seattle Kraken in 2024 and last year’s US Division rookie of the year, who’s out with a lower-body injury. Miettinen, who had 10 goals and 34 points in 30 games before he left to play for Finland for the world junior tournament. He hasn’t played since the gold-medal loss in overtime to the United States.
Another difference-maker, 21-year-old forward Austin Roest, started the season with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals but has yet to play this season, listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Roest captained the ‘Tips last season and had 38 goals and 71 points in 61 games.
Centre Nolan Chasto (upper-body, day-to-day) and defenceman Kaeson Fisher (upper body, indefinite) remain out of the Everett lineup.
The Cougars should have centre Ben Riche back in the line-up after he missed three games with an upper-body injury suffered in an open-ice hit in the Cougars game against Trii-City on Feb. 1. Americans defenceman Terrell Goldsmith drew a two-game suspension for that hit. Riche will be centring a line with Lee Shurgot and Jett Lajoie.
Cougars winger Koehn Zimmer has 119 career WHL goals and is just one goal shy of tying Chase Witala for the all-time Cougar team record.
The only player not available to the Cougars this weekend is defenceman Corbin Vaughan, who still has five games left in a 10-game suspension for charging into Swift Current Broncos forward Brady Birnie on Jan. 28. That means the 19-year-old Vaughan will have to wait until March 8 in Everett to get to play against his twin brother Jaxsin, a Silvertips winger. Both started the season with the Regina Pats.
The Cougars play the Giants on Family Day Monday in Langley and will stay down south to prepare for their next weekend series in Victoria against the Royals.
The BC Division-leading Royals hold a four-point bulge over the Cougars, having played two more games than Prince George. They have a home-and-home series this weekend with Vancouver, then host the Silvertips on Monday.
