The Cariboo Cougars will have a new face in net as they take a run at a national championship this season.
The Cougars, who will host the Telus Cup in April, have 17-year-old goaltender Zach Wickson on their roster as they start their B.C. Hockey Major Midget League regular season this afternoon in Trail against the Kootenay Ice. Wickson is originally from Calgary and played last season at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton. He's now a Prince George resident and, during tryouts and exhibition play with the Cariboo club, was a huge presence - quite literally - between the pipes.
"He's a six-foot-five guy and you can't teach that," said Cougars head coach and general manager Trevor Sprague. "He's been pretty consistent on wanting to come in here and be a No. 1 guy."
Wickson - who has been added to the 50-player protected list of the WHL's Prince George Cougars - covers a lot of net thanks to his physical proportions and athleticism.
"He moves well," Sprague said. "Sean Murray, the goalie coach with the Cougars, got to work with him a little bit at camp and really liked him. James Morrison, who's our goalie coach, same thing. (Wickson) obviously has some little things, being a big goalie, that he's got to work on - maybe tracking the puck a little bit better. And being that big, you might have a little bit more holes to cover. Low shots have been fine and he seems to move the puck well when he has to."
Wickson's goaltender partner will be Marcus Allen, who backstopped the Coast Inn of the North Cougars to a midget Tier 1 provincial championship last season and also saw spot duty with the Cariboo team. Allen is a 16-year-old local product.
Wickson and Allen are two of 13 P.G. players on the Cougars' opening-day roster. The others are forwards Brandon Dent, Darian Long, Craig Macdonald, Myles Mattila, Reid Perepeluk, Mason Richey and Devin Sutton, and defencemen Jeremy Gervais, Brennan Malgunas, Jesse Pomeroy and Jarin Sutton. The roster also includes forwards Daine DuBois (Williams Lake), Hunter Floris (Vanderhoof), Riley Krane (Dawson Creek) and Trey Thomas (Williams Lake), and blueliners Logan Archer (Burns Lake) and Joel Patsey (Hazelton).
This lineup, however, could still change because the Cats are missing a handful of players who are trying to lock down jobs in the WHL. Potential Cariboo players still with junior clubs are forward Ethan O'Rourke (Prince George Cougars), forward Josh Maser (Prince Albert Raiders), forward Ty Kolle (Portland Winterhawks) and defenceman Jonas Harkins (Prince George Cougars). Sprague has an Oct. 15 deadline to sign players to cards and doesn't have to have his roster cemented until Jan. 5.
The 15- to 17-year-old Cougars will face off against the Ice at 4 p.m. at Trail Memorial Centre. The teams will also meet at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.
The 11-team BCHMML has a 40-game regular season, followed by playoffs. The playoff champion will move on to face the Alberta winner in a best-of-three Telus Cup qualifying series. If the Cougars win their way into the Telus Cup, the Alberta team would also secure a berth in the tournament.
The Telus Cup is scheduled for April 24-30 at CN Centre.
