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Young Guns loaded for Cougars' camp

Let the shooting begin.
Let the shooting begin.
The Prince George Cougars begin their training camp Friday at CN Centre and the team's youngest prospects will get first crack at impressing the coaching staff when they play tonight in the Young Guns (Team Brewer versus Team Hamhuis) game starting at 6 p.m.
The Young Guns game includes the 17-and-under prospects the Cougars have picked in the bantam draft the past two years or have otherwise recruited as free agents to their 50-player protected list.
Following morning practices and workouts, 90-minute scrimmages begin Saturday with Team Chara taking on Team Byfuglien starting at 2:30 p.m. and Team Connolly facing Team Bourke at 4:30 p.m.
All training camp sessions are open to the public and Cougars fans will get to see first-round draft picks for 2019 - defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk, who went third overall and their fourth-overall pick, centre Koehn Ziemmer.
Forward Filip Kofer, a native of the Czech Republic selected 10th overall in the draft, will get his first opportunity to show why the Cougars selected him 10th overall in the CHL import draft in June.
This is Cats' general manager Mark Lamb's first training camp since taking on the role as head coach in late July. Associate coach Jason Smith will also be on hand since he was hired over the summer, joined by former associate coach Steve O'Rourke, who was just announced this week as the team's director of player development.
Training camp scrimmages continue Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m., 3:30 and 5:30 p.m., and on Monday at 4 and 6 p.m. On Tuesday, following practice sessions, the team will have its annual Black-White intrasquad game starting at 7 p.m.
Cougar fans will have a chance during Tuesday's game to participate in the Select-A-Seat promotion to try different seats in the building before making their choices on season memberships.
n Former Cougar defenceman Joel Lakusta has accepted a U Sports scholarship to play in Edmonton this season with the University of Alberta Golden Bears. The 20-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., played 239 games with the Cats over four full seasons. Last year he picked up five goals and 25 points in 59 games.
The Cougars other two graduates from 2018-19, forwards Josh Curtis and Mike MacLean, have also landed U Sports scholarships. Curtis is heading to Queens University in Toronto while MacLean is bound for Concordia in Montreal.