The Prince George Cougars have made their list, and there's no doubt they're not only checking it twice, but three and four times.
The Cats' preparations are in advance of the Western Hockey League's annual bantam draft, set for Thursday in Calgary.
Cougars general manager Todd Harkins, scouting director Bob Simmonds and travelling scout Trevor Sprague are in Calgary going over their long list of 2000-born players from western Canada, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska and the western United States.
The draft, featuring all 22 WHL teams, gets underway at 7:30 a.m. (Pacific Time).
After the WHL Bantam Draft Lottery on March 25 that determined the order of the first six selections (the non-playoff teams) in the first round, the Spokane Chiefs - thanks to a trade with Saskatoon - will select first overall.
That's followed by the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Vancouver Giants, Moose Jaw Warriors (via a trade with Kamloops), Prince Albert Raiders and Moose Jaw again.
The Tri-City Americans will pick seventh, followed by the Cougars with the eighth pick.
The order of the second round and all other rounds will be the inverse order of the final 2014-15 WHL regular-season standings.
Saskatoon has the first pick in the second round, while the Cougars will select seventh in the second round.
In the last three seasons, the Cougars' first-round selections were Jansen Harkins (second overall) and Brad Morrison (seventh overall) in 2012; Josh Anderson (third overall) in 2013 and Justin Almeida (fifth overall) in 2014.
