Mack Shields will no longer be making saves for the Prince George Cougars but it might not be long before he's called upon to keep them from scoring.
He's been traded to the Medicine Hat Tigers, who host the Cougars next Saturday.
The 20-year-old Shields joined the Cougars over the summer as a free agent signing, after three seasons playing goal for the Calgary Hitmen. The six-foot-three, 190-pound native of Saskatoon played in eight games for the Cougars, compiling a 3-3-0-0 record with a 3.29 goals-against average and .888 save percentage. In his WHL career he's amassed a 60-29-0-3 record with six shutouts and a 2.85 average. The Tigers gave up a seventh-round bantam pick in 2016 to get Shields.
The move frees up playing time for 18-year-old goalie Nick McBride, acquired last week in a deal with the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for the Cougars' second-round bantam pick in 2016. McBride will share the goaltending duties with 19-year-old Ty Edmonds.
"We were going to wait and make sure Mack got a good home so he could play some games and Medicine Hat was looking for a goalie because of the injury to Austin Lotz," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins.
"Mack's the consummate professional, he came in and worked his butt off. He had no guarantees and he earned himself a job and a contract and it just shows you what type of character he has to come and just try out. He's going to have a future in this game, either as a player or coach, because he was very helpful with our young players, not just Ty. He's just a great person."
In his finest hour with the Cougars, Oct. 21 at CN Centre, Shields stoned his former Hitmen team, posting a 23 saves in a 5-0 shutout.
Lotz, 20, re-injured his shoulder last week playing for the Tigers and will require surgery.
McBride, who attended the Los Angeles Kings summer prospects camp in July, arrived in Prince George on Sunday and has been practicing all week with his new teammates.
The departure of Shields leaves the Cougars with two 20-year-olds - defenceman Joseph Carvalho and winger Chase Witala. WHL teams are allowed a maximum of three overagers and Harkins will fill that spot if he can find a player who will make the Cougars a better team.
"We'll wait and make the right decision with our 20-year-old spot, it's a good problem to have at this point and we'll see what happens as we get further into the season and closer to the trade deadline," said Harkins.
On Tuesday the Cougars announced they'd traded 19-year-old winger Tyler Mrkonjic to the Calgary Hitmen for a sixth-round pick in 2016. Mrkonjic quit the Cougars two weekends ago to return to his home in St. Albert, Alta. In 154 career regular-season games with the Cougars he collected 13 goals, 21 assists and 71 penalty minutes.
The Cougars will take on the Edmonton Oil Kings at CN Centre Friday and Saturday, then board the bus for Kamloops, where they play the Blazers on Sunday. The Cougars lost to the Blazers 5-2 in their most recent game last Saturday and also lost 6-1 in Kamloops on Oct. 28.
"We haven't played well in Kamloops this season so maybe this will kickstart us," said Harkins.
The Cougars' four-game road trip also stops in Calgary on Wednesday, followed by weekend visits to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat
