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Former Cougars goalie ending WHL career

Goaltender Griffen Outhouse could probably get a letter of reference from fans of the Vancouver Giants. The way things are going for the Victoria Royals' stopper with NHL teams, it couldn't hurt.
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Goaltender Griffen Outhouse could probably get a letter of reference from fans of the Vancouver Giants.

The way things are going for the Victoria Royals' stopper with NHL teams, it couldn't hurt.

Outhouse, who turned 21 last month, is in his final season of junior hockey eligibility. He's been one of the Western Hockey League best goalies the past two or three seasons, and he's been Kryptonite on many a night against the Giants in particular.

Vancouver carried a 3-0 lead on the Royals into Thursday's action at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal, but Outhouse had steered two of the games to overtime, especially when you factor in the Giants held a combined 124-45 edge in shots in those games.

You'd think that some NHL club would be willing to give him a look, but Outhouse says he has nothing pending yet in that regard. He went to a Vegas Golden Knights development camp two summers ago and never heard back from them after. He's had no offers since.

"Right now, I'm just trying to work as hard as I can. The goal is to get an NHL contract," said Outhouse, who's originally from Likely, a community at the mouth of Quesnel Lake - about a 90-minute drive north of Williams Lake.

Before moving on to the Royals, Outhouse played for the Cariboo Cougars in the B.C. Major Midget League, where he backstopped the team to victory at the 2015 Mac's Tournament, winning top goaltender honours.

"The goal is to play pro hockey. I want to play in the NHL. Just because I haven't got that opportunity yet doesn't mean that I'm ready to quit. If anything, it sets a fire under my butt and I just want to prove people wrong."

Victoria general manager Cameron Hope maintains that NHL teams still covet netminders six-foot-two or taller, and wonders if Outhouse being a six-foot, 180-pounder isn't at play here.

Of the top 20 goalies listed by NHL Central Scouting in their midterm rankings for the 2019 draft, nine are at least six-foot-three. The four shortest are all listed at six feet, and that includes Giants' backstop Trent Miner.

Outhouse, oddly enough, won the backup job with Victoria in 2015-16 from returnee Evan Smith, prompting Hope to deal Smith to the Saskatoon Blades that December.

Smith, a six-foot-six, 181-pounder from Colorado, had been a seventh-round pick of the Nashville Predators the summer before, despite the fact he had played just four games with Victoria and another 21 in Junior A in 2014-15. Smith retired after that season with Saskatoon.

Outhouse does balk at the height issue being a factor, though. He says he's needed to get better technically and believes he's done so.

One-time Royals' goalie coach Brady Robinson, who's now the Philadelphia Flyers' goalie development coach, told Outhouse he'd be better off being on the league's weekly highlight reels less, because those head-shaking, hard-to-fathom saves are often a result of being out of control and relying on pure athleticism.

"This year I've felt that my edge work was better," said Outhouse.

"I was more in control, I was in better position and I made saves easier.

"When Brady told me, we laughed about it, but it's true. And I think you saw me on the highlight reels less. I think that's a positive.

"I know there's a lot of things that I need to work on and I have worked on them over my career, and I feel like I've taken a big step this year. I'm playing more of a pro game and I need to continue to do that."

This isn't new for Outhouse. He was passed over in the WHL bantam draft and was cut from his major midget team in his first year. From that, he's gone on to fashion a 114-60-11-4 record with a 2.77 goals against average and .917 save percentage in four regular seasons with the Royals. It's easy to suggest he's not going to give up on this NHL aspirations quietly or quickly.

"I've gotten lots of help from lots of people in hockey, but I've never really been given anything when it comes to a spot on a team or something like that," Outhouse said. "It's taken a little longer for me, so I'm willing to take that route again."