Cole Moberg should not be playing hockey with the Prince George Spruce Kings.
In a perfect world he’d be out blocking blueline entries for the Prince George Cougars, doing the kinds of things that got him drafted into the NHL in what is supposed to be his last season of junior hockey before he tackles the pros.
If this had been a normal season, by now Moberg would have had 20 or so games under his belt and he’d probably be well on his way to exceeding his back-to-back 13-goal seasons, sparking the Cougar offence as one of the top defencemen in the WHL. And more than likely, the 20-year-old from North Vancouver would be providing the leadership the Cougars will need to lock up a playoff position for the first time in five years.
But in these unprecedented times where nothing is certain and the plans of the hockey world fluctuate on the whims of invisible virus that causes chaos and kills with impunity, Moberg has found an alternate arrangement to plan to get him back playing the game. He’s on loan to the Spruce Kings until Cougar camp begins after Christmas.
“It’s been really good, it’s nice to get back into a routine practicing with the team and getting the team mentality back, hopefully we can get a season started here soon,” said Moberg. “It’s definitely weird to not have games to look forward to on the weekend and not having regular practices with the (Cougar) team. Obviously the conditioning is as lot different from training all summer to getting back into a game, there’s nothing that you can do to compare to a game.
“I miss going out every night battling with the guys and I miss that excitement of scoring goals and winning and setting up plays. That excitement is not there right now and it sucks.”
Moberg was all set to board the bus to Merritt for the Kings’ final pre-season game on Saturday when that got canceled by a new provincial health order that put the clamp on all team travel from region to region for the next two weeks. The Kings had targeted opening the season at home against the Centennials on Dec. 4 but that’s been pushed back at least a week due to a ban on team travel issued on Thursday by the provincial health office. The Cougars hope to start their season on Jan. 8.
“To keep it no travel from out of your health region, we’re in a bit of trouble because we have no other teams in our region, if we can’t travel we can’t really play,” he said.
Moberg has been in Prince George for about a month, skating with some of his Cougar teammates in informal workouts and they’ve been getting together for gym sessions at the Northern Sport Centre at UNBC. That group includes defenceman Aiden Reeves and centre Connor Bowie, who joined the Spruce Kings on loan a few weeks ago. Cougars goalie Taylor Gauthier was part of that group until he returned to Alberta to take part in the 28-day Team Canada world junior team camp that started last week in Red Deer.
Moberg was called up to replace 20-year-old defenceman Tanner Main, who broke his leg in a fall into the boards Nov. 15 in Trail. He’s expected to miss six-to-eight weeks. Kings head coach Alex Evin is drawing on Moberg’s experience as the Cougars’ power-play quarterback and has paired him with Colton Cameron.
“It’s a lot of instincts and I feel pretty comfortable,” said Moberg. “The systems are a little different and I’m still learning those but I’m pretty good at picking up new systems pretty quick. I was looking forward to the games and of course the first week I come in the league gets shut down for a bit. Hopefully we’ll get some games soon.”
Moberg was drafted in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He attended the ‘Hawks rookie camp that year and played four exhibition games. He hasn’t had any recent conversations with the team and has no idea when or if he’ll be attending any pre-season camp, with the next NHL season tentatively scheduled to start sometime in January.
The six-foot-three, 190-pound Moberg hasn’t played a game since the WHL season was suspended in early March and he’s used that extra downtime to pound weights and raise his cardio fitness. His new German Shepherd puppy kept him on the go for walks and runs in the neighbourhood and he says he feels stronger than ever on the ice.
“I spent a lot of time at home, Vancouver was a (COVID) hotspot for most of the summer and it was hard to get out and do anything,” he said. “It was weird to spend my birthday (Oct. 17) at home this year and that was nice to spend with my family.”
Moberg ranked second in Cougar scoring last year with 13 goals and 37 points in 58 games. He focused on improving his defensive skills and his plus-minus rating jumped from minus-33 in 2018-19 to minus-14 last season. A lot of that had to do with the team’s commitment to keeping the puck out of their own end and Moberg made significant strides working with assistant coach Jason Smith, a former NHL defenceman.
“I came in as an offensive defenceman and that’s what I wanted to be and I found out you have to be strong defensively before you can be an offensive defenceman,” said Moberg. “You want to be able to score those goals but you also want to be counted on in your d-zone. Having Smitty there gave me some tips on how to be calm in my d-zone rather than run around and try not to cheat for offence.”
