When the Prince George Cougars take on the Kamloops Blazers tonight in Kamloops, they'll have prospect Jackson Leppard in the lineup.
Leppard, a 2000-born forward who was chosen eighth overall by the Cougars in the 2015 Western Hockey League bantam draft, is currently skating for the Vancouver Northwest Giants of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League. With the Giants, the six-foot-one, 181-pounder has eight goals and 17 points in 19 games.
"We are very excited to have Jackson join the Prince George Cougars," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "He's had a very strong season up to this point with the Vancouver Northwest Giants and we wanted to reward him with this opportunity to join our group and make his WHL debut."
The Cougars were in need of an extra forward because of a three-game suspension to Colby McAuley, who was handed the ban because of his actions in a Saturday home game against the Vancouver Giants.
As an underager, Leppard is eligible to play a maximum of five games for the Cougars this season.
The Cats, who have gone 5-5 in their past 10 games, will be looking to end a two-game losing skid tonight. They dropped the Saturday game to the Giants (4-1) and also fell on Sunday, 5-3.
The Cougars, however, haven't had much success against the Blazers this season. To date, they are 1-4 against Kamloops and have been outscored 27-14. Prince George's only win against Kamloops was in the most recent meeting, on Nov. 28. That night at CN Centre the Cougars skated to a 7-3 victory.
The Cougars (23-14-1-1) head into tonight's game as the third-place team in the B.C. Division. The Blazers (18-14-4-1) are seven points behind the Cats, who currently hold the final guaranteed playoff spot in the division. Kamloops has two games in hand.
Prince George's Bryan Allbee has been traded by the Kootenay Ice to the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft.
Allbee, an 18-year-old defenceman who came up through the Prince George Minor Hockey Association and the Cariboo Cougars major-midget program, had four goals and 10 points in 40 games with the Ice this season. He was in his second year with the team.
Allbee was dealt after the Ice acquired 17-year-old blueliner Ryan Pouliot from the Red Deer Rebels.
