Jared Rathjen is returning to his hockey roots.
The 20-year-old goaltender is coming back to his hometown to finish his junior career after the Prince George Cougars picked him up on waivers Thursday from the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Rathjen was born in Prince George and played his minor hockey in the city, including two seasons with the major midget Cariboo Cougars. With local ownership of the WHL franchise now in place creating renewed fan interest, Rathjen says he can't wait to join the team he grew up watching.
"I'm extremely excited to be part of the new ice age and everything that's going on there," Rathjen said. "Everyone I've talked to in the city is excited about the changes and I think there's a lot of support now and it's a cool thing to be part of. We've got the whole city excited about the team again.
"Playing at home is always a lot of fun, you don't have to worry about billets and with all the people you grew up with, you kind of have a support group. Growing up, thinking about how awesome it would be playing for the Cougars was something I thought about a lot."
Rathjen has played in 74 WHL games with the Victoria Royals and Vancouver Giants, compiling a 20-30-7-1 record with a 3.81 goals-against-average and .873 save percentage. He had his best season last year with the Giants, finishing with a 13-8-4-1 record, 2.98 goals-against-average, .898 save percentage and one shutout.
The Tigers picked him up in an off-season trade with Vancouver for a conditional fifth-round bantam draft pick in 2015.
Rathjen hasn't played this season. While in the Tigers' training camp he developed a heart condition which required laser surgery to correct. He lost his position with the Tigers when 20-year-old Marek Linkhamer, a WHL veteran the Tigers expected to play pro hockey this season, was sent back to Medicine Hat by the Arizona Coyotes.
"I'm completely healthy now and ready to go, I'm feeling great now," said Rathjen, who will be living at home with his parents, Loraine and Terry, and his brother James.
Rathjen, who has never lost a game he's played at CN Centre, is expected to be with the Cougars (8-8-0-0) this weekend when they host the Kamloops Blazers (9-7-1-0) in a weekend set Saturday night (7 p.m. start) and Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.). He joins the two incumbents in net -- 18-year-old Ty Edmonds and 16-year-old Tavin Grant.
"It just brings a little bit of age and leadership to our two younger goalies and we just wanted him to come to help mentor and be a goalie who can help us win some games," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "These guys are all in the process of developing as goaltenders and it will be healthy competition for all three of them.
"Jared is from Prince George and you never know if that's going to excite his career and get him to play even harder and better in front of his hometown crowds."
Edmonds has started all but two of the Cougars 16 games this season. Grant has drawn two starts, including an impressive 3-2 win on Sunday in Calgary against the Hitmen. While Edmonds remains the designated starter, Harkins said Grant is in no danger of being sent down to another team and will remain with the Cougars for the duration of the season.
"Tavin had a phenomenal game and we had challenged him about trying to get better every day as a 16-year-old and he showed us he is getting better," said Harkins. "We don't want to rush Tavin and this decision [to acquire Rathjen] is nothing to do with the other two goalies we have."
Because of the rule which limits each WHL team to a maximum of three 20-year-olds, the Cougars released defenceman Wil Tomchuk to make room for Rathjen, who joins forwards Jari Erricson and Chance Braid as the team's three remaining overagers. Tomchuk was sent to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the AJHL. The native of Fort McMurray had two assists and 24 penalty minutes in 15 games with the Cougars.
With one fewer defenceman on the 25-player roster, Harkins said that will create more ice time for rookie D-man Josh Anderson, which will enable him to meet the WHL's 40-game minimum requirement for all 16-year-old players.
Anderson is currently in Sarnia-Lambton, Ont., playing for Team Canada White at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. He'll miss the next four Cougars games while he' s involved in the eight-team international tournament.
