Armed with the third- and fourth-overall picks in the Western Hockey League bantam draft, the Prince George Cougars tapped the same talent pool twice.
They zeroed in on the Okanagan Hockey Academy Edmonton bantam prep team and plucked out a couple of gems - selecting defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk third overall, then selecting centre Koehn Ziemmer as the fourth player chosen Thursday in Red Deer.
"We got two very high-end players," said Cougars general manager Mark Lamb. "Dowhaniuk, a defenceman, he can play the game anyway you want to play, good puck-mover, he can play physical and he's only going to grow."
Dowhaniuk collected nine goals and 30 assists for 39 points in 29 games with his OHA team in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. He stands five-foot-10 and weighs 147 pounds and was picked as an all star in the Alberta Cup bantam tournament, collecting two goals and two assists in five games. According to DraftGeek Scouting Report, Dowhaniuk was the consensus top defenceman available in the draft.
"He's got a brother in the league who plays for Edmonton (2002-born defenceman Logan Dowhaniuk) and the family is really familiar with the league," added Lamb.
The five-foot-10, 179-pound Ziemmer, a native of Mayerthorpe, Alta., was a potent point producer with his OHA team. In 34 games he had 42 goals and 38 assists for 82 points.
"Koehn Ziemmer is a very high-skilled goalscorer who can offensive plays who has had a great year, said Lamb. "The two kids played together so they've got some really good chemistry, so I don't think we could be happier with the two picks we got, we got a real stud D and a real stud forward."
Before the draft began the Cougars made a deal with the Winnipeg Ice, sending the Ice the second-overall pick the Cats acquired in January 2018 from the Swift Current Broncos to allow Winnipeg to select forward Connor Geekie (Yellowhead bantam triple-A Chiefs).
The Ice had obtained the third-overall pick, originally owned by the Regina Pats, in an earlier trade from the Saskatoon Blades. With their first-overall pick the Ice took forward Matthew Savoie (Northern Alberta midget Xtreme).
The Cougars had two second-round picks and with their own pick, 26th overall, chose F Kyren Gronick, a five-foot-nine, 181-pound forward from Regina (27g-26a-53pts) who played this past season for the Regina Aces bantam team.
The Cougars also owned the Portland Winterhawks' 36th overall pick, from the January 2018 deal that sent D Dennis Cholowski to the Winterhawks and used it to pick up D Jaren Brinson, who played last season for Edge Academy in Calgary. Brinson, a native of Airdrie, Alta. (2-8-11 in 31 games) measures five-foot-11 and 133 pounds.
The Cougars did not have a third-round pick and in the fourth round selected LW Carter MacAdams of Delta Hockey Academy 70th overall.
The Langley native, who stands six-foot-one and weighs 150 pounds, had 25 goals and 45 points in 32 games.
The Cats had two seventh-round picks and picked LW Andrej Kovacevic of the West Vancouver Warriors bantam prep team (27-29-56 in 34 games) 136th overall, then used their 146th pick to choose F Kassius Ker, also of the West Vancouver Warriors, 146th overall. Ker had 38 goals and 66 points in 30 games last season.
In the eighth round, 158th overall, the Cats decided on Ty Young, a goalie who played for the Lethbridge triple-A bantam Golden Hawks. In 22 games he posted a 2.77 average and .919 save percentage.
He's from Coaldale, Alta.
D Connor Claughton joined the Cougars in the ninth round, 195th overall. He played this past season for the Red Deer Rebels bantam triple-A team., posting two goals and 12 assists in 26 games. The five foot-eight, 138-pound Claughton is from Red Deer.
For their last pick of the day, in the 10th round, 202nd overall, the Cougars went with five-foot-eight, 130 pound centre Gavin Schmidt, a native of Calgary who totaled five goals and 32 points in 33 games with the Okotoks Oilers triple-A bantam team.
"Clearly we're in a development cycle with a strong upward trend," said Bob Simmonds, the Cougars director of scouting.
"These players combined with the (2003-born players picked in the draft last year) and the '05s we'll get next year we believe will be the core of a team that will be successful for years and will be competing for championships."
