Fort St. John will always be home for Connor Bowie but his hockey roots are now firmly planted in Prince George.
At six-foot-two, he’s one of the tallest trees batting for breathing space in the Prince George Cougars’ training camp. The 17-year-old centre appears to be doing all the right things on the ice trying to lock up a permanent job on a young Cougar team on the rebound, coming off a WHL season without a postseason.
“Playing here is just like playing at home,” said Bowie. “I’ve been here so often throughout minor hockey, P.G. is like a second home. I love it. Hopefully I can impress some people out here.”
Bowie was acquired along with forward Ilijah Coilina in a deadline deal with Portland in January that sent 20-year-old defenceman Dennis Cholowski and the rights to junior A goalie Ty Taylor to the Winterhawks. The Cougars also received Portland’s first- and third-round bantam draft picks in 2020, second-round picks in 2018 and 2019, and a conditional sixth-round choice in 2019.
Bowie has been living with his Cougars billets in Prince George since July so he could take part in the on-ice skill development sessions taught by Nick Drazenovic, the Cougars’ director of player development. Drazenovic put the group of junior and major midget players through the paces throughout the summer at the Elksentre and they did three on-ice sessions and one off-ice workout each week leading up to training camp.
As a result, Bowie has honed his hockey skills and he says he’s never felt stronger on his skates. He now weighs 210 pounds, about 20 pounds more than he did at the end of last season.
In his first camp scrimmage Saturday afternoon, Bowie impressed the Cougar brass watching from high above, scoring one of the two goals in Team Chara’s 5-2 loss to Team Byfuglien. Bowie asked Czech import Matej Toman to take the draw and he got it back to Bowie, who unleashed a one-timer that got past goalie Isaiah DiLaura.
“It was great just to get that constant ice in the summer that I never got before,” said Bowie. “I remember coming here last year and how I felt and now I just feel so much more confident now that I have a little experience I can bring to the table.
“It was hard for me to gain weight back in the day, but now it seems to be piling on pretty quick. I took a couple tough hits (Saturday) and I found maybe last year I would have tumbled but I can actually push these guys back down and I’m happy about that.”
Bowie scored two goals and had one assist in 10 WHL games following the trade. He also scored a goal in a four-game stint after getting called up to the major midget Cariboo Cougars. He spent most of the season with his hometown Northeast Trackers double-A midget team and had 27 goals and 54 points in 27 games.
The Cougars will be one of the younger teams in the WHL and Bowie is part of that youth movement. He doesn’t turn 18 until next April.
“One of the best things is this team is so young, and it’s so tight-knit, all the boys are so close in age and I just enjoy playing with guys who are 17, 18, 19, and hopefully I can get on the squad and make an impact,” said Bowie. “I want to put up a decent amount of points this year and get the attention of people around the league and see what happens.”
