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Cougar grads say goodbye

Ontario native Jared Bethune was playing high school hockey in Minnesota during the 2013-14 season when he first met Todd Harkins, who asked him if he might want to make the move to the Prince George Cougars.
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Ontario native Jared Bethune was playing high school hockey in Minnesota during the 2013-14 season when he first met Todd Harkins, who asked him if he might want to make the move to the Prince George Cougars.
At the time, the Cougars were one year away from a change in ownership, on their way to missing the playoffs for a third consecutive year and home attendance at CN Centre was in the tank – the lowest in the Western Hockey League (averaging 1,693 per game).
But the following October while playing in the USHL in Lincoln, Neb., Bethune bought into what Harkins was selling as the Cougars general manager and decided to tackle a new adventure playing in the northernmost outpost of the WHL.
The impact of the left winger from Fort Francis, Ont., was immediate. In his WHL debut Oct. 17, 2014 in Kent, Wash., he notched his first assist in a 3-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds, setting Bethune on a four-season path of success that would make him, as a 20-year-old, the Cougars’ top point producer and most valuable player. His WHL career ended with two assists Saturday in his final game as a Cougar, a 6-5 shootout loss to Kamloops at CN Centre, capping off a 21-goal, 69-point season.
“I wasn’t too sure before I came here, I’d heard some things about Prince George and I was told to lock my car and make sure because there were some bad areas, but it’s been a great town and it really grows on you and the people here are just so genuine – blue collar, my style,” said Bethune.
“You heard about Prince George with where they were at but with the new ownership taking over it seemed like the right fit for me and kudos to them for my four years and how much they’ve improved everything to try to make it better and better.”
In 276 games he totaled 65 goals, 110 assists and 175 points. And he had four playoff points. The season ended on an upswing as the Cougars, one of the youngest teams in the WHL after they traded their most marketable veterans in January, proved they can compete with some of the better teams in the league. Like the rest of his teammates, Bethune enjoyed his farewell tour.
“The last couple weeks every game you have different guys from around the league come and talk to you and congratulate you on your career and say stuff,” he said. “It’s really cool to be in such a good league and be acknowledged – it’s really humbling and I can’t say enough good things about Prince George.”
Bethune won two awards at the Cougars third annual awards banquet Sunday at the Civic Centre – the Dan Hamhuis Award as team MVP and the Fan Club Bursary Award.
For Bethune, who was part of last year’s B.C. regular-season champions, one of his most memorable games as a Cougar came this season on Dec. 30 in a road game in Vancouver when he won a face-off which allowed Dennis Cholowski to score the tying goal with one second left in the third period, then set up Kody McDonald for the winner with 12 seconds of overtime left.
“My parents shut the computer off, they thought we lost and texted me their condolences and I was like, ‘what are you taking about, we won,’” he said. “That was one of the coolest things I’ve been a part of.”
With his season over and no playoffs for the Cougars, he left Tuesday for a ECHL pro tryout in Texas with the Allen Americans. Depending on how that pans out, he’s applied to attend either the University of Manitoba or Queens University in Toronto to study economics in the fall.
The Cougars said goodbye Sunday to Bethune and their other overagers, forwards Aaron Boyd and Brogan O’Brien.
Boyd, a Winnipeg native, was picked as a 15-year-old in the second round of the WHL bantam draft by the Cougars and played four full seasons, finishing with 34 goals 50 assists and 84 points in 251 regular-season games, and three points in 15 playoff games. He had 14 goals and 24 assists for 38 points this year.
“Being from Winnipeg, this was pretty much the farthest team to go to and it was a culture shock coming here at first, with all the mountains,” he said. “But the team and my billets welcomed me with open arms. Being out in the public with events with the Cougars you notice how great the city is, especially our fans and how much they care for us and how well they know us.
“I definitely learned a lot, especially living away from home, and I made a lot of good friends and met a lot of great people and I can’t thank the Cougars enough for all they’ve done for me.”
He plans to study business in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba.
“It’s really nice with all our experiences in hockey and in our career to end it with having school paid for. It just opens up a lot of opportunities for us,” Boyd said.
“Our banner last year was a very proud moment in my career and it being the first banner for the Cougars is really special.”
O’Brien became Cougars property in January 2015 when Harkins acquired his rights from the Kelowna Rockets in a deal that sent forward Chance Braid to Kelowna. At that time O’Brien was a 17-year-old playing his second season in the BCHL with the Spruce Kings. The Prince George native didn’t have far to go when Cats’ camp began that summer and over the next three seasons with the Cougars he put up 44 goals and 86 assists for 130 points in 193 regular-season games and had three goals in 10 playoff games. A knee injury in December sidelined O’Brien for seven weeks but he still finished fourth in team scoring with 17 goals and 41 points in 52 games.
“It’s a blessing to be able to play at home for all these years and I wouldn’t change anything for the world – it’s a great feeling to be able to play here,” said O’Brien, who came up through the local minor hockey association.
O’Brien had been entertaining offers for pro tryouts and signed an agreement with the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL. If hockey doesn’t work out he says he’ll go to university but is not sure what career path he’ll follow.  
“It’s been a long five years here playing junior and I’m very proud of everything I’ve done and have no regrets for sure,” he said. “I’ll be able to come to the rink whenever and always see the banner and be proud of that – that I helped put that up there.
“There’s a bright future here with this team and I think there will be some really exciting developments happening next year and fans should be really pumped to see these young guys grow up and develop.”