The Prince George Cougars have added a Leppard to their hockey herd.
The Cougars picked Jackson Leppard, a six-foot-one, 180-pound left winger from North Vancouver as their first-round selection (eighth overall) in Thursday's WHL bantam draft in Calgary.
Leppard was a key ingredient in helping the North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks of North Vancouver repeat as provincial and Western Canadian bantam champions. In 51 games he collected 37 goals and 48 assists for 75 points. He also had 128 penalty minutes. At the Western Canadian tournament in Winnipeg, Leppard led North Shore with five goals in five games and also had two assists.
The 15-year-old native of St. Catharines, Ont., watched the draft live on the WHL website and said he had a good feeling he'd be coming to Prince George when the Tri-City Americans passed him by with their seventh-overall pick. That feeling was confirmed when Cougars general manager Todd Harkins walked up to the podium to announce Leppard's name
"It feels awesome, I'm really honoured, it was really cool to hear my name get called," said Leppard. "I know I'll be in good hands there with Todd and Jansen (Harkins), and Justin Almeida and a bunch of North Shore guys I know. The team is on the upswing with new ownership and the New Ice Age and it's going to be fun going there. I know there's a new team bus coming in with beds."
Todd Harkins, a former hockey program director at the North Shore Winter Club, first spotted Leppard in a Whistler uniform playing against his son Jonas. Six years later Leppard moved with his family to North Vancouver.
"He's a competitor, every time he steps on the ice he wants to score, he wants to check you and get the puck from you, he'll do anything to win," said Todd Harkins.
"It really came to me when I was watching the provincial final against the Victoria Racquet Club. He scored four goals and two of them were shorthanded. He has that element of size and speed and grit and passion to play the game and it was something you couldn't ignore.
"He's a terrific skater with a big-time shot who can beat you in many ways: he can go around you, through you, above you or below you, and we know that he'll be a key factor in our success down the road."
Leppard is no stranger to Prince George, having played for the Winterhawks last year when they won the bantam Tier 1 provincial title at Kin 1. At that time he was listed at five-foot-10, 155 pounds, and in that one year of growth has added three inches and 25 pounds.
"I'm a big power forward and I use my strength to my advantage and just see the ice well and have good offensive and defensive awareness," said Leppard. "My skating got a lot better the last two years. I just want to prove myself and play a big role on the team. I'm really excited about how successful the team will be in the next two years."
On a day when nine North Shore players were drafted, the Cougars also selected Winterhawks defenceman Jonas Harkins in the second round (see other story) and right winger Tyler Ho in the third round.
Ho, a five-foot-11, 185-pounder from North Vancouver, fired 30 goals and assisted on 57 other scoring plays for 87 points, third among the Winterhawks. He went 65th overall.
"I'm just so happy the Cougars drafted me, I was so happy I was shaking -- P.G. has a great organization and I just love it," said Ho, who turns 15 in October. "I love the city, I love everything. I've heard they've changed things around in their development and I'm looking forward to it. I did not expect (the Cougars would draft three North Shore players) but it's awesome."
Ho picked up four goals and four assists for a team-high eight points in their run to the Western championship.
"We like everything about Tyler Ho's game," said Cougars scouting director Bob Simmonds. "He's a very skilled forward with a hard, accurate shot and he does not back down from physical play."
Ho and Jonas Harkins are likely to play together next season in Prince George with the Cariboo Cougars, while Leppard is destined for the Vancouver Northwest Giants. While it's highly unusual for any WHL team to take three players from the same team with their first three picks, Todd Harkins said his familiarity with all three simplified the team's decisions.
"When you watch kids play for such a long time like I have with those three kids you have a comfort with them and where their development curve is heading, and that probably the biggest thing," said Harkins. "They're competitors, they're good kids who come from good families and they love to win and they win. They played well all year, every time you watched that team play it was an amazing team to watch and they had a lot of good players who went in that draft.
Two other North Shore players went in the first round. The Prince Albert Raiders selected left winger Luka Brown of North Vancouver sixth overall and the Edmonton Oil Kings chose defenceman Ethan Cap of North Vancouver 11th overall.
As a result of previous trades, the Cougars did not have fourth- and fifth -round picks.
In the sixth round (113th overall), the Cougars used a pick acquired in a trade with Kamloops to chose six-foot-two, 205 pound defenceman Reid Perepeluk of Yorkton, Sask. The Cougars traded their sixth-round pick (117th overall) to Calgary.
In 26 games with the Yorkton double-A bantam Terriers, Perepeluk picked up 28 goals, 40 points and 48 penalty minutes. He also had a productive postseason with three goals and four assist in nine games, as well as 10 penalty minutes.
"Reid Perepeluk is one of the strongest skaters in the 2015 bantam draft," said Cougars' Saskatchewan scout Jason Gordon. "He's got a powerful shot, is aggressive in all three zones and will be a 'game-changer' for our organization."
Forward Liam Ryan was picked by the Cats in the seventh round (138th overall). The six-foot, 160-pound Ryan caught the eye of the Cougars while playing this past season for the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins this past season, where he developed a reputation as a solid two-way forward.
"Liam competes hard, has great speed and is very tough to play against," said Prince George Cougars traveling scout, Trevor Sprague. "He's got a great scoring touch, but is also very tough to play against in his own zone."
The Cougars went south of the border to find six-foot-one, 175-pound goaltender Isaiah DiLauria of Lakeville, Minn., and chose him in the eighth round (160th)
"He's super-athletic, tracks pucks well, and uses his size effectively," said Bill Horton, the Cougars' U.S. director of scouting, who coached DiLauria's Bantam double-A team in Minnesota this past season. "Having coached him before, I know his character. He's a good person to be around."
Defenceman Zach Minaker of Kitimat was picked by the Cougars in the ninth round (183rd overall). The five-foot-11, 186-pound Minaker played this season for the Okanagan Hockey Academy bantam prep team.
The Cats ended the day picking two forwards. Isaac Saniga of Spruce Grove, Alta. was picked in the 10th round (204th overall) and Colin Schmidt of Maple Grove, Minn, went in the 11th round (226th overall). Saniga is five-foot-seven, and weighs 167 pounds and played last season for the PAC Saints. The six-foot-four, 200-pound Schmidt played high school hockey at Wayzata.
The Spokane Chiefs used their first-overall pick to take defenceman Ty Smith of Lloydminster, Alta. The five-foot-10, 160-pound Smith had nine goals, 19 assists and 19 penalty minutes in 16 games for Delta Hockey Academy this past season. Spokane acquired the first pick in a trade two seasons ago with Saskatoon.
Also in the first round, defenceman Calen Addison from Brandon, Man., went to the Lethbridge Hurricanes second overall and the Vancouver Giants picked centre Tyler Popowich of Surrey third overall. The Kamloops Blazers picked Jett Woo fourth overall. Woo , a native of Winnipeg, played for Team Manitoba at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George.
