Knowing they’ve lost veteran centre Ben Riche to NCAA college hockey, the Prince George Cougars have added another experienced 20-year-old forward to the fold.
Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb announced Friday they’ve claimed four-year WHL veteran Kooper Gizowski on waivers.
The five-foot-10, 168-pound Edmonton native started his WHL carer in 2021 with Spokane and played two seasons with the Chiefs and played the past two seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
This past season Gizowski had 17 goals and 35 points in 63 regular season games and finished with a strong playoff performance, notching five goals and four assists and a plus-seven rating in 16 games with the ‘Canes.
“We’re very excited to add a player like Kooper to our lineup,” said Lamb. “He’s a proven veteran in our league who brings scoring ability and valuable experience.
“He’s guy who’s been around and he can really score, and that’s something we’re going to need.”
In 239 career regular season games in the WHL he scored 48 goals and had 49 assists for 97 points.
He’ll be one of five 2005-born players invited to the Cougars’ training camp, which starts Aug. 28, to compete for one of three positions open to overaged juniors.
That list includes forwards Gizowski and Evan Groening, defencemen Aleksey Chichkin and Bauer Dumanski and goalie Cooper Michaluk.
Riche, who was eligible to return to Prince George, has left the Cougars for Quinnipiac University.
He made that decision since the Cougars acquired him in a trade Jan. 8 from the Saskatoon Blades. They paid a heavy price, sending to the Blades Calgary Flames-drafted forward Hunter Laing, a Calgary Flames, the rights to 2009-born defenceman Luke Dumas, a first-round pick in the 20206 WHL Prospects Draft and a fifth-round pick in 2028.
“That was one of the reasons (the Cougars made the trade), because we’d have (Riche) for two years, but the landscape changed,” said Lamb.
The Cougars also lost 20-year-old forward Matteo Danis to the Penticton Vees in the WHL expansion draft. Centre Riley Heidt, also won’t return as he begins his pro career in the Minnesota Wild organization.
Today is NHL draft day and Lamb and the entire Cougars organization are looking forward to seeing the first round unfold in Los Angeles, with Cats goalie Josh Ravensbergen ranked 28th overall by nhl.com on the list of draft-eligible players.
“It’s great for him, it’s great for his family, and the draft’s the draft, you never know what’s going to happen,” said Lamb. “The last few years we’ve had quite a lot of guys rated in the draft and it’s exciting for him, he’s down there, he’s been through the combine (in Buffalo), he’s ben through the process, now he just needs to get drafted.”
Cougars forwards Jett Lajoie and Aiden Foster are also on the NHL Central scouting list of potential picks, as is Riche.
The first round starts at 4 p.m., PT (TSN). The continuation of the draft, rounds 2-7, starts at 9 a.m. PT on Saturday.
The Cougars announced Thursday that Lamb and associate coach Jim Playfair and assistant coach Carter Rigby, athletic therapist Dave Adolph and equipment manager Dane Engelhardt have all signed multi-year contracts to return to the Cougars.
“When you get a really good group that works together, and I’m putting the trainers in there too, the people who work downstairs together every day, it’s one of the best I’ve ever been part of and you want to keep it together,” said Lamb. “They’re all really good at their jobs and we’re lucky to have everybody.”
