The Prince George Cougars have finally acquired a veteran goaltender.
Nineteen-year-old Adam Beukeboom was picked up Thursday from the Vancouver Giants in a deal for a seventh-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
The five-foot-11, 190-pound Beukeboom, who last played in the WHL two seasons ago with the Regina Pats, has played the past two seasons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with the Drumheller Dragons.
In 10 games this season with the Dragons he has a 7-3-0 record to go with a 2.39 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He went 19-12-3 in 35 games with the Dragons in 2012-13 compiling a 2.65 goals-against average and .903 save percentage with three shutouts.
The native of Sundre,, Alta., had a 5-6-2-0 record with the Pats in 2011-12 , finishing with a 3.08 goals-against average and .898 save percentage and one shutout.
The Cougars are on the road this weekend with games tonight in Vancouver (7:30 p.m. start) and Saturday in Kamloops. With 18-year-old goalie Brett Zarowny suffering a groin injury in the warmup session Dec. 6, Ty Edmonds, 17, has been the Cougars' go-to guy in net the past month, having started the last 16 games.
With Edmond in net the Cougars saw their modest two-game win streak end this week and lost twice at home to the Seattle Thunderbirds. After a 9-7 defeat Tuesday, the Cougars ran into a hot Danny Mumaugh in the T-birds' goal and had to settle for a single point Wednesday, losing 2-1 in a shootout.
The good thing about that game, from a Cougars' perspective, was the bounce-back effort of their young goaltender. After a rough night that saw Edmonds caught out of position making bad choices that ended with him fishing the puck out of his own net, in the Seattle rematch he looked a lot more like the goalie picked to play in the BMO NHL/CHL Prospects Game next Wednesday in Calgary. Edmonds challenged shooters, sucked up rebounds, and played the angles well and consequently allowed just one goal as he made 24 saves through 60 minutes of regulation time and a five-minute overtime. Just one Seattle shooter, Sam McKechnie, managed to beat him in the shootout, which was decided the game.
"We've relied on Ty a lot this year, he's started 16 games in a row and he's bound to have one game and we're not too worried about it," said Cougars centre Zach Pochiro. "We know he's a good goaltender and we know he's got our back. You don't want to have to rely on a guy that young but when he's good he's good. He's proved that he's good and I expect the best out of him every game."
The Cats went into the Seattle series on a two-game win streak, which matched a season high, both wins coming at home last weekend against the Kamloops Blazers.
"We held Seattle to one goal, versus nine, and it was a better effort but it's tough when you don't get two points so we're kind of disappointed," said Pochiro.
Pochiro, 19, centres what's been one of the hottest scoring lines in the WHL the past couple weeks. With a pair of 20-year-olds -- Todd Fiddler at left wing and Klarc Wilson on the right side -- that combination has generated 34 points in their last four games. Fiddler now ranks ninth in WHL scoring with 51 points and 22 goals in 38 games.
"Our line's playing good, when we score we want more," Pochiro said. "It's weird, we get one and we look at each other and we know we're not stopping until that buzzer rings. [Seattle] held us to one goal [Wednesday] but it'll be hard to do that every game."
After going into the Christmas break on Dec. 15 on the heels of a 3-1 win over the Giants, the Cougars returned to Vancouver and lost 5-2 on Dec. 30. The ninth-place Cougars (16-22-2-4) are now 11 points behind the seventh-place Giants (21-15-5-2) and four behind eighth-place Tri-City for the final playoff spot heading into tonight's game. Cougars head coach Mark Holick expects the Giants to play a similar hard-grinding style as they shown in the past two head-to-head battles.
"They've obviously played pretty well lately, they knocked off Kelowna the other night, they're an older group they're physical and they come at you in waves," said Holick. "They seem to have all four lines running and six D, with [Dalton] Thrower and [Brett] Kulak on the back end, and they're goaltending has been pretty good. They're close to a pro team, they throw pucks to the net, they crash it hard and they're an abrasive group.
"We'll have our hands full and we have to make sure we get some points here on the roadtrip and stay close to that roadtrip we're chasing."
n The Cougars will be without injured players Zarowny, defenceman Peter Kosterman and forwards Brett Roulston (foot), Alex Forsberg (concussion), Jari Erricson (concussion), Chase Witala (upper-body)... Defenceman Tanner Lishchynsky, 17, has left the Cougars to return to the AJHL.
n The WHL roster deadline is 6 p.m. tonight.
