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Cougars stocking up at bantam draft

The Prince George Cougars have selected forward Tyson Phare in the first round of the Western Hockey League bantam draft, being held today in Calgary. The Cougars chose Phare, from Maple Ridge, with the 18th overall pick.
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The Prince George Cougars have selected forward Tyson Phare in the first round of the Western Hockey League bantam draft, being held today in Calgary.

The Cougars chose Phare, from Maple Ridge, with the 18th overall pick.

The five-foot-11, 180-pound Phare skated for the Yale Hockey Academy Lions this season. In 28 games, he scored 18 goals and added 22 assists for 40 points. Phare also picked up 56 minutes in penalties.

At the prestigious John Reid bantam tournament in St. Albert, Phare registered 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in six games.

"Tyson Phare is a big-bodied forward who controls the play down low offensively and can get to the front of the net to score goals," Cougars general manager Todd Harkins said in a media release. "He competes hard, skates well and is reliable in all three areas of the ice. He is going to complement our forward group very well in the seasons to come."

Phare said he tries to model his game after Anaheim Ducks star forward Ryan Getzlaf.

"It's an incredible honour to join the Prince George Cougars," he said. "Getting drafted is just the first step for me though. It's going to be a lot of hard work over the next few months to get bigger, put on some weight and make sure I'm ready to have the best training camp possible."

The Cougars' second-round pick belonged to the Prince Albert Raiders.

• In the third round of the draft (62nd overall), the Cats chose centre Stanley Cooley, a product of the Notre Dame Hounds bantam prep program. Cooley, from Regina, played 30 games for the Hounds this season and finished with 18 goals and 32 points. He also dresed in seven midget triple-A games as an underager.

Cooley stands almost five-foot-nine and weighs 175 pounds.

"Stanley Cooley is a very dynamic forward that competes at a high level," said Jason Gordon, the Cougars' Saskatchewan scout. "He loves to score and goes to the hard areas of the ice to do so. When he was called up to midget triple-A he showed that he can compete and have success against older players."

• The Cougars selected Saskatoon forward Boston Maxwell in the fourth round of the draft, 84th overall. Maxwell, six feet and 177 pounds, was a member of the Saskatoon Stallions this season and recorded 43 points (22 goals, 21 assists) in 30 games.

Also in the fourth round, the Cats drafted forward Zachary Michaelis with the 88th overall pick, acquired from the Regina Pats. Michaelis is a five-foot-11, 185-pounder from from Elk River, Minn. His stats are unavailable.

• The Cougars didn't have a pick in the fifth round. In the sixth (113th overall), they chose defenceman Brody Gagno of Langley. Gagno was on the blueline for Yale Hockey Academy this season and had two goals and 11 points in 29 games. He's five-foot-10 and weights 157 pounds. The Cats got the pick in a transaction with the Raiders.

• The Cats added another defenceman, Powell River's Gabe Shipley, in the sixth round (128th overall). The five-foot-11, 165-pound Shipley played for the Delta Wild this season and had 10 assists in 29 games.

• In the seventh round of the draft, the Cougars chose towering defenceman Scott Gilowsky of Vernon. Gilowsky already stands almost six-foot-five and weighs 181 pounds. This season, as part of the Okanagan Hockey Academy program, he had three goals and 15 points in 25 games. The pick, 153rd overall, originally belonged to the Medicine Hat Tigers.

• With their eighth-round selection, 172nd overall, the Cougars chose forward Michael Hoekstra of Saanich. The six-foot, 155-pound Hoekstra suited up for the Saanich Braves this season and was also called up for seven games by the South Island Royals of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League. With the Royals, he scored one goal.

• The Cougars stayed inside Prince George with their ninth-round selection when they added defenceman Mathew Magrath, who was a member of the Farr Fabricating bantam Tier 1 Cougars this season. Magrath, five-foot-11 and 145 pounds, helped Farr Fab to a 1-3-1 record at the provincial championship tournament in Kamloops. His regular-season stats were unavailable. The WHL Cougars picked Magrath 194th overall.

• In the 10th round (201st overall), the Cougars used a pick they got from the Raiders to select forward Mitch Kohner of Rosemount, Minn. Kohner played high school hockey for the Lakeville North Panthers and also skated for the Minnesota Bruins this season. Combined, he had 10 goals and one assist in 35 games. He's listed at five-foot-eight and 172 pounds.