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Grant makes goalie grade

In his hockey travels, Tavin Grant has experienced Prince George winter weather but as a Burnaby boy he has no concept of fending off -40 C wind chills and trudging through metre-high snow drifts.
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Tavin Grant has earned himself a spot on the Prince George Cougars roster as backup goaltender.

In his hockey travels, Tavin Grant has experienced Prince George winter weather but as a Burnaby boy he has no concept of fending off -40 C wind chills and trudging through metre-high snow drifts.

Conditions like those come with the territory when you play for the Prince George Cougars. The 16-year-old goaltender found out this week he's in for a climate change after earning a spot on his first Western Hockey League team.

"This morning felt freezing to me - we haven't had snow in Burnaby for awhile," said Grant after practice Wednesday morning as the team loaded up for a bus trip to Oregon. "It's definitely going to be cold here. I brought a few jackets, for sure."

The Cougars open the season Saturday in Portland against the Winterhawks. Grant won the battle over 17-year-old Matt Kustra to back up incumbent Ty Edmonds in net.

"It's awesome, I'm glad that the guys have faith in me to backstop the team this year," said Grant. "It's a development year for me and I just have to try to get better at every practice and every game and always be ready to go. My practices this year are my games, so If I do well in practice you never know what will happen."

The Cougars will be skating out to a noisy crowd in Portland at the Moda Center, where there could be as many as 19,000 fans watching the Winterhawks unveil their Western Conference championship banner. Grant says he'll be as ready as he can be for that kind of scrutiny.

"Obviously the nerves are going to get to me but I kind of use that as a push factor," he said. "I've always been in the stands for that kind of a game so it will be nice to be on the ice for one."

The Cougars also play the Tri-City Americans Sunday night in Kennewick, Wash., before they return to host the Kelowna Rockets in their home-opener at CN Centre next Friday.

Grant was the top-ranked goalie last season in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League with the Vancouver Northwest Giants and he wowed the Cougars' brass with a high level of intensity and athleticism stopping pucks in training camp and the preseason.

"We're going to give him a long look here and see how it goes, he's a guy who deserves the opportunity," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "Minor hockey goalies don't get a lot of ice and practicing every day is a different animal. He has to make sure he's prepared all the time. There's no secret [18-year-old Edmonds] is the guy we'll play all the time and Tavin has to battle every day to keep pushing Ty as much as he can."

Kustra was sent back to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League to play for the Yorkton Terriers, one of two roster moves announced Wednesday. The Cougars also sent 16-year-old winger Colby Johnson to the SJHL, where he'll start the season with the Kindersley Klippers.

That leaves the Cats with two goalies, 10 defencemen and 15 forwards.

Colby McAuley, an 18-year-old winger, also made the cut, making the jump from midget triple-A in Sherwood Park. Playing on a line with veteran Jari Erricson and Jordan Ross, McAuley scored a team-high five goals in four preseason games and also showed his feisty side, picking up 13 penalty minutes.

"Coming into camp I was real nervous and I just tried to do what I can and it's working out, obviously," said McAuley. "Going into Portland it's a huge opportunity to play in the season-opener and the boys just have to keep going and do what they have to do. I just have to focus every game and be mentally prepared."

Erricson, a 20-year-old, is entering his last season of junior, coming off a severe concussion which limited him to just four games in 2013-14. The new Cougars ownership group, in an effort to build team chemistry, sent the team to a three-day adventure camp retreat near 100 Mile House, where they brought in sports psychologist Saul Miller as a consultant to help the players get mentally focused for the season. Erricson says the team is already reaping the benefits. In exhibition play, the Cats put together three wins and two overtime losses.

"It's a real easy environment to be around the guys here," said Erricson. "I feel we have a great leadership group and we don't leave anyone out when we do activities off the ice and we stick together as one group."

In addition to Grant, the Cougars have eight forwards and three defencemen who weren't with the team last season.

"This last month here has been getting to know each other and getting to know each other's habits and I feel we've done a good job with that," said Erricson. "Hopefully we can carry that into the regular season."