As the play-by-play voice of the Prince George Cougars, Fraser Rodgers had more than usual to pack for his latest Western Hockey League road trip.
He arrived Saturday afternoon after about a six-hour drive and for at least the next 60 days he and the rest of the Cougars entourage will be living in the protected environment the league has created for them in Kamloops.
The Cougars gathered in the same city for the first time in about a year Saturday at the Sandman Signature Kamloops Hotel and from his room Rodgers can see across the parking lot to the Sandman Centre, where the Cougars will be their home games in a 24-game season that starts March 27.
“I’ve got my whole mini recording studio I’ve had to bring down here, monitor, microphones, and video equipment, it’s a lot,” said Rodgers. “You want to make this as comfortable as possible and make this a work environment so you have to do this. I brought my home workout studio too, my yoga mat and everything, to try to make this as productive as possible.
“It’s not an NHL bubble, we don’t have the fancy golf simulator or anything like that but it’s going to be the best of a unique situation. I think the kids are excited to get back to doing what they know how to do. I think they’re even looking forward to a bag skate after a year of purgatory.”
Rodgers will be broadcasting the games solo, as per WHL protocols, and he’s prepared with extra supplies to keep his vocal chords intact, stocking up on water, herbal tea and throat lozenges. His usual colour commentator, Hartley Miller, won’t be there to spell him off during breaks in the action on the ice but will be offering recorded interviews from his studio in Prince George for Rodgers to use during broadcasts. Even though the rinks will be full of NHL scouts, league protocols forbid live interviews between periods.
The 26 players and six team staff have been in quarantine since March 6 and will spend another five days sequestered in their hotel rooms. Everybody will get tested for COVID-19 on Sunday and again later in the week. Assuming there are no positive tests, the Cougars can begin practicing on Thursday.
“Once we’re in here, we’re in here, we can’t see any outside people,” said Rodgers. “I think the teams will have a liaison to get prescriptions and odds and ends for Chico (equipment manager Dhanjal) and athletic therapist Mike (trainer Matthies).”
Rodgers and his wife Marlie have a young daughter in Prince George, while Dhanjal and goaltending coach Taylor Dakers each have young families with two kids, and they’ll be depending on their phones and video linkups to see them while the team is away.
“It’s going to be tough not being around our kids but it’s also a lot on the spouses to kind of pick up the slack right now with not having a second parent available,” said Rodgers.
The Sandman has reserved an entire floor for the Cougars, with kitchenettes in some of the rooms for those who want to do their own cooking. There’s also a staff lounge they’ll use once the quarantine ends. A banquet room is set up for players who are in school. Rodgers said the players are already accustomed to online learning so it won’t be much of a change for them.
The Cougars have two 2000-born players on the roster - Jack Sander and Ilijah Colina – and nine 2001s, including world junior team goalie Taylor Gauthier. Also in the 2001 mix and forwards Connor Bowie, Ethan Browne, Brendan Boyle, Tyson Upper and Jonny Hooker, and defenceman Majid Kaddoura. The 2002-born players are defenceman Aiden Reeves and forwards Mitch Kohner, Davin Griffin and Craig Armstrong.
Ten rookies have been invited to Kamloops. The roster includes six 2003-born players – forwards Blake Eastman, Fischer O’Brien and Michael Svenson, defencemen Hudson Thornton and Ethan Samson and goalie Tyler Brennan – and six born in 2004 - goaltender Ty Young, defencemen Jaren Brinson and Keaton Dowhaniuk, and forwards Carter MacAdams, Kyren Gronick and Koehn Ziemmer. Dowhaniuk and Ziemmer were picked by the Cougars third and fourth overall respectively in the 2019 bantam draft. Riley Heidt, the former Saskatoon Contact forward drafted second-overall in 2020, will also make his WHL debut this season.
“It’s going to be exciting seeing those young guys get their reps in and sink their teeth into the WHL,” said Rodgers.
The Cougars, Kamloops Blazers and Vancouver Giants are all based in Kamloops, while the Kelowna Rockets and Victoria Royals are setting up shop two hours away in Kelowna. Games in the B.C. Division start Thursday, March 26. The Cougars play the Blazers the following night in their first game. The Cats will play pretty much every second day, with only three two-day breaks in the schedule. They’ll use the Blazers bus to travel to and from Kelowna.
“That’s the one silver lining is there’s no travel for us now and I’m kind of looking forward to seeing a fresh team, a fresh as they can be with the crazy schedule we have,” said Rodgers. “It always becomes a factor towards the end of the season when the travel factor kicks in and travel will not be a huge factor. Compared to what we usually have to do it’s going to be a laugh.”
Each B.C. Division team will play the other teams six times and no fans will be allowed in the stands. Rodgers will be behind the mic for all 24 Cougar games, broadcasting live on 94.3 FM The GOAT. The games will also be streamed live on the league’s newly-launched WHL Live website, which is available by subscription for the entire league for $59.99 for the season or $6.99 daily.
LOOSE PUCKS: The WHL’s Central Division teams have been playing since Feb. 26. The East Division began Friday and the U.S. Division has its first game scheduled for Thursday when the Portland Winterhawks visit the Tri-City Americans… Connor Bedard, the 15-year-old phenom drafted first overall by the Regina Pats in 2020 from West Vancouver Academy, turned in an impressive WHL debut Friday in the Regina hub. He scored two goals within 48 seconds of each other in the second period in what ended up a 6-3 Pats loss to the Prince Albert Raiders. His first career WHL goal was a rink-length rush in which he deked around his check just inside the blueline and fired a wrister past goalie Max Paddock. Bedard’s second goal came off a face-off win in the Raiders end when he dragged the puck into the middle and lifted another wrist shot into the net.
