Jaxsen Wiebe is hoping for a repeat of his own hockey history.
Last spring he won a Western Hockey League championship as a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings, a team he joined at mid-season in a trade from Red Deer.
This season, the 20-year-old was sent to the Prince George Cougars in a Nov. 28 trade. Since then, the fast and feisty forward from Moose Jaw collected 11 goals and 24 assists in 39 games. He signed an entry-level contract with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks on March 2. He plans to bring the winning playoff experience to the team as he prepares to face the Tri-City Americans in Game 1 of their opening-round series Friday at CN Centre.
“I’ve been there and done that before, and I think this group is going to do something special if we can bring all those attributes," he said. "We’ve done some pretty good stuff in the second half and everyone’s excited.”
The Cougars had their best regular season in six years, finishing fourth in the Western Conference with a 37-24-6-1 record, five points ahead of the fifth-place Americans (34-26-5-3).
“We’ve had a heckuva year right from the start,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “Every team has their struggles. Bringing in Wiebe and (Cole) Dubinsky and (Chase) Wheatcroft, in the summer, and having that age and leadership and skill on the team is a real positive that really changed our team."
The Cougars host the first two games of the best-of-seven series Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (6 p.m.), then the series heads to Kennewick, Wash., for Games 3 and 4 Tuesday and Wednesday and, if necessary, Game 5 on Friday. The teams would then travel back to Prince George for Game 6 (if needed) on Sunday, April 9 and Game 7 (if needed) on Tuesday, April 11.
