The Prince George Cougars have released their roster for the upcoming 2020-21 B.C. Division regular season. The roster consists of 26 players that consists of three goaltenders, eight defenceman, and 16 forwards.
“I’m very excited about the makeup of our roster,” said Cougars’ General Manager & Head Coach Mark Lamb. “We have a good number of returning players that know what to expect, but also a nice mix of young talent that will benefit from the experience of this compact season.”
Seventen of the 26 players on the roster were with the Cougars at the end of the 2019-20 regular season. Defenceman Jack Sander and forward Ilijah Colina are the two overage players on the roster. Overage defenceman Cole Moberg remains with the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League.
The roster this year features an influx of young talent with 10 rookies, including six 16-year-olds: goaltender Ty Young, defencemen Jaren Brinson and Keaton Dowhaniuk, and forwards Kyren Gronick, Carter MacAdams, and Koehn Ziemmer. Dowhaniuk and Ziemmer were the Cougars’ top two selections in the 2019 WHL Draft and were selected third and fourth overall respectively.
A trio of 17-year-olds round out the rookie class in defenceman Hudson Thornton and forwards Fischer O’Brien and Michael Svenson. Both Svenson and Thornton have already played at the junior A level. Svenson played eight games this season in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for the Winkler Flyers and had four goals and two assists. Thornton has already played 23 games this season in the United States Hockey League for the Fargo Force and had two goals and two assists. He collected six goals and 17 points in 54 B.C. Hockey League games last season with the Chilliwack Chiefs.
Riley Heidt, the Cougars’ first pick in the 2020 WHL bantam draft is also on the roster as an affiliate player. Heidt, the second overall selection, started this season with the Saskatoon Contacts in the Saskatchewan Male Under-18 AAA Hockey League. He was third in team scoring with 10 points (3g, 7a) in six games. Heidt turns 16 on March 25.
The roster also features a pair of Prince George products in O’Brien and returning defenceman Aiden Reeves. O’Brien is the younger brother of former Cougars Brogan O’Brien and played the last two seasons with the Cariboo Cougars. Reeves is returning for his second season after splitting last year between the Cougars and the Cariboo Cougars.
The Cougars will be without their two import players in Filip Koffer and Jonni Kärkkäinen. Kärkkäinen is playing for HIFK’s Under-20 program in Finland, and Koffer remains with HC Dynamo Pardubice in the Czech Republic.
The Cougars’ entire 26-man roster can be found at www.pgcougars.com/roster
The WHL’s B.C. Division will play all 2020-21 Regular Season games exclusively within the hub centres located in Kamloops and Kelowna. The five B.C. Division teams will each play a 24-game schedule, which includes six games against each opponent.
The Cougars open their season on Saturday, March 27th against the Kamloops Blazers at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
