Twelve rounds, 12 players.
The Prince George Cougars filled their pockets with potential Thursday at the WHL draft in Edmonton.
Cougars assistant general manager and director of player personnel Wade Klippenstein kicked off the festivities by offering good-luck greetings to the Tri-City Americans and Calgary Hitmen, who are battling for the Ed Chynoweth WHL championship and the Brandon Wheat Kings, who will host the Memorial Cup next month.
Then to the surprise of nobody, Klippenstein used the Cougars first-overall pick to select Alex Forsberg of Waldheim, Sask.
The list of names that followed included a pair of Prince George minor hockey products -- forward Chase Witala and defenceman Raymond Grewal -- both picked in the fifth round, and an assortment of B.C.-, Alberta- and Saskatchewan-born bantams.
While the choice of Forsberg stole much of the thunder at the draft tables, the Cougars built their prospect depth chart in the second round 31st overall with another centre, Jordan Tkatch of Prud'Homme, Sask.
Tkatch played for the Humboldt bantam Broncos, where he operated at a better-than four-points-per-game pace, with 57 goals 43 assists and 100 points in 24 games.
"We were looking at a defencemen for the second-round pick but we had him rated in the first round and we liked what he did," said Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson. "With getting Alex, we wanted to complement that by adding some (scoring) help there for him."
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