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Cougars defenceman likely to be chosen during NHL draft this weekend

After six months in spinal limbo, waiting for a cracked vertebra to heal, Josh Anderson has been given medical clearance to go back to doing what he does best. Playing hockey.
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Prince George Cougars defenceman Josh Anderson looks to make a play against the Tri-City Americans last October at CN Centre. Anderson is expected to become property of an NHL team this weekend.

After six months in spinal limbo, waiting for a cracked vertebra to heal, Josh Anderson has been given medical clearance to go back to doing what he does best.

Playing hockey.

The 17-year-old Prince George Cougars defenceman attended the NHL scouting combine in late May in Buffalo, N.Y., and while he was unable to go through the demanding physical tests other draft prospects endured, he met with the scouting staff of 25 of the 30 NHL teams. They are definitely interested in the six-foot-three, 215-pound blueline basher from Duncan.

"It was my goal all of last year to be on that radar and now that I'm there I just have to keep working hard and get back into shape to make my dream come true," said Anderson.

"I talked to quite a few teams at the combine, just basic interviews, getting to know you, your family background. I've been thinking about it for a couple years now, just watching previous drafts. Now that I've been talking to teams, knowing that I'm going there, it's just kind of set in."

Anderson is ranked 60th among North American skaters for this weekend's draft and he's confident he will be taken. He and his agent, Carlos Sosa of Seattle (Turning Point Sports Management), are flying to Buffalo today and Anderson's parents (Kristine and Chris) and maternal grandparents from Lake Cowichan will also be there this weekend.

The first round of the draft is scheduled for Friday evening (4 p.m. PT start) and subsequent rounds will take place on Saturday (starting at 7 a.m. PT). Anderson is being touted as a third-, fourth- or fifth-round pick. In 85 WHL games with the Cougars over two seasons, he's put up three goals and 10 points, but it's not Anderson's point production that has piqued the interest of scouts. It's his attention to detail on defence and his nasty streak, known to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents. Anderson loves to paste opponents into the glass and he's never afraid to drop his gloves to help a teammate out of an altercation.

His long reach makes it tough to get by him and he's adept at creating turnovers. Anderson's skating has improved, not to the point where he leads offensive rushes like teammate and Vancouver Canucks prospect Tate Olson, but he has sufficient lateral movement to keep up to most WHL forwards.

Anderson is one of the youngest draft-eligible players. He turns 18 on Aug. 29.

At the time he went down with his injury, the Cougars were going through a slump from which they never recovered. After winning 20 of their first 32 games and drawing honourable mention status in the CHL rankings, they barely made the playoffs and lost in the first round to Seattle. Anderson's absence down the stretch was noticeable. Aside from captain Sam Ruopp, Anderson's defence partner last season, the Cougars didn't have another aggressive shutdown defenceman to send out against the opposition's top lines.

"I definitely saw the compete level kind of die down because nobody wanted to hit, fight or do the role I played and I could notice that quite a bit," said Anderson.

He suffered a hairline fracture of his L3 vertebra during a game in Vancouver, Jan. 16. He was attempting to lay a bodycheck on Giants forward Radovan Bondra in the corner. Bondra turned away from the hit and Anderson lost his footing and fell.

"I went into the boards head-first and luckily I was able to protect my head and neck with my hands, but I hyper-extended my spine," said Anderson.

He was in a back brace for four months, not allowed to do any strenuous activity until last week when he got the green light from his doctor following an MRI exam. He's been working in Duncan performing light duty on an irrigation crew.

"I'll just take it slowly, just gradually build up each day as I go on, just so I don't have any problems going forward from now," said Anderson, picked by the Cougars third overall in the 2013 WHL bantam draft. "I've been skating here and there, just slowly getting back into the workout routine. Now that I've been cleared I've been able to do what I want as long as I feel comfortable doing it."

In the past month, the Cougars have hired two former pro defencemen - head coach Richard Matvichuk and associate coach Steve O'Rourke - to take over behind the bench. Anderson says he's looking forward to picking their brains to reveal some of their secrets leaned while playing at the higher levels.

Cougars power forward Kody McDonald was identified earlier in the season as a C-prospect, and there's a chance he could get picked this weekend. McDonald, a native of Lethbridge, Alta., totaled 15 goals, 29 points and 137 penalty minutes in 71 games in his second year with the Cougars last season.

Cougars list players LW Riley Tufte (Blaine, Wash., high school), D Dennis Cholowski (Chilliwack Chiefs, BCHL) and C Rem Pitlick (Muskegon, USHL) are all bound for Division 1 NCAA U.S. college teams this season and all three are likely to make this year's draft list.

Tufte, a six-foot-five, 212-pound native of Ham Lake, Minn., who averaged three points per game with his high school team, is projected as a first-rounder. He's been recruited to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Cholowski, an 18-year-old from Langley, played the past two seasons in the BCHL. He scored 12 goals and 40 points in 50 games with the Chiefs last season and has been recruited to St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Pitlick, 19, a native of Plymouth, Minn., is enrolled at the University of Minnesota. He collected 46 goals and 89 points in 56 USHL games in 2015-16.