When Prince George Cougars winger Jesse Gabrielle steps onto the ice Tuesday night at CN Centre to face the Tri-City Americans it will be his first game as a signed professional.
The 19-year-old native of Moosomin, Sask., inked a three-year entry-level contract Sunday with the Boston Bruins, the team that picked him in the fourth round (105th overall) in the 2015 draft.
Apparently, the Bruins like what they've seen lately from the speedy Gabrielle, a fan favourite at CN Centre who came close to scoring his second breakaway shorthanded goal in as many days Saturday in the Cougars' 6-4 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Gabrielle leads the Cougars in goal scoring with 19 and he has 31 points, one behind team leader Jansen Harkins. In one-and-a-half seasons with the Cougars since coming over in a trade from Regina, Gabrielle has scored 59 goals and 106 points in 96 games. He started his WHL career with Brandon. In 215 career regular-season games he has 94 goals and 176 points.
"From the moment he arrived in Prince George, Jesse Gabrielle has made a major impact on our organization both on and off the ice," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "He’s a game-changer who fits the Boston Bruins mold perfectly. He’s one step closer to living his dream of playing in the National Hockey League and our entire organization is thrilled for Jesse and his family."
The Cougars (22-8-2-0, first in B.C. Division) will have their hands full with the Americans (19-11-3-0, second in U.S. Division) in town Tuesday and Wednesday. Tri-City has scored 121 goals in 33 games (an average 3.66 per game) and has three forwards – C Morgan Geekie (16-24-40), C Michael Rasmussen (22-16-38) and RW Tyler Sandhu (8-30-38) in the top-20 in the WHL scoring race.
The Americans have also been getting an offensive kick out of defencemen Juuso Valimaki (12-23-35) and Parker Wotherspoon (5-24-29). Another player to watch is LW Jordan Topping, who missed 29 games with an ankle injury. Topping scored 33 goals and 67 points as a sophomore last year and in four games this season he has two goals and two assists.
"They're a big team, they have a lot of big bodies in the back end and up front and they use their size to kind of muscle guys around and try to get to the net and defend," said Harkins. "We just have to use our speed, get pucks behind their D and get pucks to their net and that will be to our advantage.
"Michael Rasmussen is a potential first-round pick this year – he has 22 goals this year and he seems to be the catalyst of their offence, but he's 17, so we just have to be hard on him and take away time and space on him and keep him away from the blue paint because that's where he scores a lot of his goals."
Americans G Evan Sarthou attended the U.S. world junior team's summer camp but didn't play his first game this season until Nov. 5. He was in net for 60 games for the Americans last season. In eight games this year he has a 4-2-2 record with a 3.19 goals-against average and .904 save percentage.
This is the start of four games in five nights for the Cougars, who play Friday in Seattle and Saturday in Spokane.
