If Brendan Guhle was nervous before his audition with the Prince George Cougars he didn't show it.
Not long after the opening face-off Tuesday at CN Centre, the 19-year-old defenceman wisely decided to join the rush and was set up perfectly in the deep slot by Yan Khomenko for a quality shot on goal.
Eight minutes later, on a Cougars' power play, Guhle let go a wrist shot that ticked off the stick of a Regina Pats defenceman and sailed high into the net for the game's opening goal. That got the Cougars started and they went on to beat the Eastern Conference-leading Pats 5-2 for their fourth-straight win.
"That was awesome, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way," said Guhle, acquired a week ago in a trade from the Prince Albert Raiders in a deal for 17-year-old defenceman Max Martin, 18-year-old winger Kolby Johnson, the Cougars first-round bantam pick in 2018 and their third-rounder in 2019.
"Most important, we got the win and that's a statement to the league and everyone else. We played well against them, we kept battling and played hard and got pucks deep and played the way we need to play."
Against the Pats, Guhle showed his versatility as a puck-moving defenceman who can find open teammates with a long stretch pass. He gives the Cougars better opportunities to strike quickly and plays into their strength forcing neutral-zone turnovers.
"He's a leader and he's one of those elite players we're going to have to lean on," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. "He showed (Tuesday) how well he sees the ice. With his offensive capability and the way he can skate, he's one of those guys you give a little extra room to knowing if he's going to make a mistake he can get back when he has to."
Guhle, a drafted and signed Buffalo Sabres prospect, won't admit it but he knows there's a good chance he will be invited to Hockey Canada's world junior camp. He and Cougars forward Jansen Harkins were standouts in the CIBC Canada-Russia Series and if they do make the national team for the Christmas tournament in Toronto and Montreal they will be unavailable to the Cougars for a good chunk of December.
"If I don't end up going to the camp, I'm happy to be here and hopefully we'll get more wins," said Guhle, who's been paired on the blueline with Shane Collins. "If I don't end up playing in world juniors it's not a bad thing and we can just improve our team and get better and establish ourselves for the playoffs."
The Cougars have been scoring by committee this season and you only have to look at the list of the league's top point-producers for evidence. Brad Morrison lead the Cats with nine goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 23 games. He's No. 43 in the scoring race.
Next in line among the Cougars is Harkins, 56th on the list, who has five goals and 23 points in 18 games. The only other Cougars in the WHL's top-75 are Jesse Gabrielle (No. 68, 12-9-18), Colby McAuley (No. 70, 9-12-21) and Jared Bethune (No. 71, 9-12-21).
But with 90 goals in 24 games, an average 3.75 per game, the Cougars still rank as the fifth-highest scoring team in the league. What that means is opposing teams can't key on just one or two lines with their shutdown players. And now with the ever-dangerous Guhle more than willing to join the rush like he did Tuesday, the Cougars are even more difficult to stop.
"It's really calming having him back there," said Gabrielle, in reference to Guhle. "He's dependable and reliable and makes the right plays and for us that's big. He's added a dimension we needed and we're just happy to have him. We're all really impressed with the way he played and once he gets used to the system and gets rolling he's going to be something else."
Gabrielle, a fourth-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2015 from Moosamin, Sask., was traded from the Pats to the Cougars in August 2015 and scored the fifth Cougars' goal Tuesday against his former teammates into an empty net.
"It was good, but it's more important for us to get the win," said Gabrielle. "It was a big win for us to see where we're at in the standings with that team and I'm happy we got the win. Obviously we have a lot of depth in our division and I think playing good teams more often than worse teams helps us a lot. Regina's a good club but we made them play our game and that was kind of the deciding factor and we got the win because of it."
Harkins was shifted over to right wing from his usual spot at centre and played Tuesday with Brogan O'Brien and Khomenko and that combination created more than a handful of great scoring chances.
The Cougars have been getting great production out of their so-called checking line with Aaron Boyd centring McAuley on the left side and Josh Curtis at right wing. Curtis had to leave the game seven minutes in after getting decked by Pats defenceman Connor Hobbs but wasn't seriously injured and that line should be intact again for Saturday's game in Everett.
"We truly believe with the system we're playing we have to get pucks deep early and use our cycle and our speed to our advantage and we came out (Tuesday) and did the little things right off the hop," said Matvichuk. "We were physical early and most teams struggle when you have the depth we do."
Having taken back their No. 1 ranking in the country on the CHL list this week, the Cougars (18-4-2-0) still lead the overall WHL standings with 38 points in 24 games, one point ahead of the white-hot Medicine Hat Tigers (18-5-1-0) and two up on the Everett Silvertips (16-3-4-0). The game against the Silvertips will be the start of a three-game roadtrip, which includes stops in Portland on Sunday and Vancouver on Tuesday. Everett won both games in Prince George in October, 4-0 and 6-3, and that will no doubt be a motivating factor for the Cats.
Matvichuk promised before the season began the Cougars would not be the most penalized team in the WHL for a third-straight season and that prediction seems quite safe. One-third of the way into the season the Cougars rank 17th out 22 teams in sinbin time, averaging 12.3 minutes per game. That's a significant difference from last year's 17.9 minute average.
It also helps the Cougars have been better than any WHL team at penalty killing. The lead the league in that department, killing off 85.9 per cent of their penalties, allowing just 15 goals in 106 opportunities. Their power play has been successful 20.4 per cent of the time, with 20 power-play goals in 98 chances, 12th in the league.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cats announced Thursday they've signed equipment manager Chico Dhanjal to a three-year contract extension. Dhanjal is currently in his ninth season with the Cougars. Tuesday's game was his 600th career WHL game.
