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Vopat joins Cougars' flock

The Prince George Cougars have hired as their new assistant coach a guy once traded for Wayne Gretzky.
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The Prince George Cougars have hired former NHL forward Roman Vopat as an assistant coach.

The Prince George Cougars have hired as their new assistant coach a guy once traded for Wayne Gretzky.

Roman Vopat, who played 133 NHL games in a 16-year pro career as a centre, becomes the team's third full-time coach, joining head coach Mark Holick and assistant Mike Hengen behind the Cougars bench.

Vopat, 38, who retired as a player in 2011, coached the Kimberley Dynamiters of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League for 1 1/2 seasons, from 2011-2013.

"I'm very excited and honored to be a part of the New Ice Age," said Vopat, in a team release. "This is my second dream come true. I have played in the National Hockey League and this is what I always wanted to do after I finished playing. This is a great opportunity for my family and I appreciate the chance that the new ownership group is giving me."

Originally property of the St. Louis Blues, who drafted him in the seventh round, 172nd overall in 1994, Vopat was part of historic trade the Blues made with the Los Angeles Kings to acquire Gretzky on Feb. 27, 1996. In return, the Blues sent Vopat, left winger Craig Johnson, centre Patrice Tardif and the Blues' fifth-round draft pick in 1996 (which the Kings used to select defenceman Peter Hogan) and the Blues' first-rounder in 1997 (left winger Matt Zultek).

Vopat played parts of three seasons with the Kings before he was traded to Colorado at the start of the 1998-99 season. Before he could lace up with the Avalanche he was sent to Chicago. After just three games with the Blackhawks he was traded to Philadelphia, the fourth NHL team to own his rights in a 20-day span.

The following season, after being sent to the Flyers' AHL affiliate, Vopat returned to Europe and played in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

In his junior career the native of Litvinov, Czech Republic played in the WHL for the Moose Jaw Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders. He started the 1995-96 season in the AHL with Worcester and was called up to play 25 games for the Blues before getting sent back to the Warriors, who traded him to Prince Albert at midseason.

Vopat's native tongue is Czech, a language closely related to Slovakian, which should help communications between the coaching staff and the team's two Slovakian import players, defenceman Martin Bobos and centre David Soltes.

Vopat and Cougars general manager Todd Harkins were teammates with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the AHL during the 1996-97 season and Vopat played with Harkins' brother Brett in Finland.

The Cougars brought Vopat to Prince George a week ago for the start of training camp. He rejoined the team on the road this in Alberta, where the Cats opened the exhibition season in St. Albert on Saturday with a 6-4 win over the Red Deer Rebels.

"Roman joined us at training camp as a guest coach and impressed all of us with his excitement and professionalism and his past experience will be beneficial to all of our players that have a dream to play in the NHL," said Todd Harkins. "He's well-connected with teams and scouts in Europe, and that will serve us well down the road with the CHL import draft."

Vopat and his wife Natalie have two sons, nine-year-old Brayden and seven-year-old Nicholas, who will be moving to Prince George.

"We're pleased to add an individual of Roman's caliber to our coaching staff," said Holick. "He's played at the highest level possible and knows what it takes to get there. His experience is going to be an asset to our organization moving forward."