Two major draft picks are coming to the Prince George Cougars this coming summer.
The Western Hockey League held the annual draft lottery on Thursday to determine which teams would get which position in the annual intake draft.
The new Winnipeg Ice squad (recently moved from Cranbrook) will make the first overall selection, but it is Prince George after that, followed by the Saskatoon Blades and then Prince George again.
Trades aided in this sweet selection situation. The Cougars regular season record got them the fourth overall pick, but second overall came to them by way of a trade made more than a year ago with the Swift Current Broncos.
The Cougars dealt defenceman Josh Anderson for two successive first-round picks. In last year's draft, that pick turned into Craig Armstrong (an offensive powerhouse for the Airdrie Xtreme minor hockey program who got called up for five WHL games this past season) and this year it will turn into the second overall selection.
"In the last 25 years, the Cougars have chosen second overall on three occasions, including Tyler Bouck and Jansen Harkins. Bouck was selected in 1995 and the Cougars took Harkins in 2012," said Cougars spokesperson Fraser Rodgers.
The third instance was Travis Eagles in 1996, who later became a 1999 NHL draft pick of the Florida Panthers. Eagles was a play-making forward who got dealt midseason by the Cougars in 2000-01 to the powerful Brandon Wheat Kings where he finished his WHL career then embarked on a three-year university hockey career for the University of Manitoba.
The other two picked second overall in Cougars history have even more lauded names in hockey lore.
"Bouck played 197 career regular season games in the WHL, all with the Cougars, and compiled 151 points," said Rodgers.
"He was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the second round in the 1998 NHL Draft, and went on to a 14-year career in professional hockey. Harkins played four seasons with the Cougars and is the Prince George Cougars' franchise all-time leader in assists (167) and points (242).
"He was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the second round in the 2015 NHL Draft. He currently plays for the Jets' American Hockey League affiliate the Manitoba Moose."
The lottery selection process - done by selecting random balls emblazoned with team names - was performed by Tori Gabura from acccounting firm KPMG.
The 2019 WHL Bantam Draft will be held in Red Deer on May 2.
The full selection order for the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft is:
1. Winnipeg Ice
2. Prince George Cougars (from Swift Current)
3. Saskatoon Blades (from Regina)
4. Prince George Cougars
5. Kelowna Rockets
6. Brandon Wheat Kings
7. Kamloops Blazers
8. Seattle Thunderbirds
9. Winnipeg Ice (from Red Deer)
10. Brandon Wheat Kings (from Victoria)
11. Calgary Hitmen (from Tri-City)
12. Medicine Hat Tigers
13. Calgary Hitmen
14. Swift Current Broncos (from Portland)
15. Spokane Chiefs
16. Brandon Wheat Kings (from Moose Jaw)
17. Regina Pats (from Lethbridge Hurricanes)
18. Edmonton Oil Kings
19. Victoria Royals (from Saskatoon)
20. Kamloops Blazers (from Everett)
21. Swift Current Broncos (from Vancouver)
22. Prince Albert Raiders
The order of the second round and all other rounds of the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft will be determined by the inverse order of the 2018-19 regular season standings.
Players eligible for the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft will be 2004-born players who reside in Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
