Josh Anderson is offering Trevor Sprague a glimpse of what's in store for Prince George Cougars fans this season.
The highly-touted 16-year-old native of Duncan, who anchored the defence last season for the South Island Royals major midget team, is trying to earn a spot on one of three Canadian teams for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Sprague, an assistant coach for Team White at the U-17 training camp in Calgary, says the six-foot-three, 210-pound Anderson has stood out so far, for all the right reasons.
"He's been doing well, the first couple days were good but we have five more days left and we start games [today]," said Sprague, who has been hired by the Cougars as a scout.
"I don't think he knows I'm part of the Prince George Cougars yet because he doesn't have his phone. He probably thinks I'm still with Portland."
The Cougars picked Anderson third overall in the 2013 bantam daft. He picked up a goal, 13 assists and 72 penalty minutes in 34 games with the Royals last season. He also played two games for the Cougars.
Sixty forwards, 36 defencemen and 12 goalies have shown up for the U-17 camp. From that list, 66 players will form the 22-player rosters for three Canadian teams - Red, White and Black - to play in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Nov. 2-8 in Sarnia, Ont.
All 108 players at the camp have either been drafted by Canadian Hockey League teams or are part of those teams' protected lists. Thirty-five are from the OHL, 32 are from the QMJHL and 29 play for WHL teams.
Cougars forward Jansen Harkins will join 43 other players for the under-18 national team training camp in Calgary, which starts Saturday. The team will be split into two squads, Red and White, for games Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Twelve forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders will make the final selections to play for Canada in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Aug. 11-16. This year's tournament includes Canada, the U.S., Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, Russia and Sweden.
Canada, the defending champion, opens Aug. 11 against Switzerland.
