Cougars begin East Division trip tonight in Prince Albert
The timing of the trades that brought them from the prairies of Saskatchewan to the rolling hills of Prince George could not have been better for Austin Crossley, Kjell Kjemhus and Rhett Rhinehart.
Three weeks after they joined the Prince George Cougars in two separate deals at the trade deadline they’re back in Saskatchewan tonight for the start of a six-game, nine-day tour of the WHL’s Eastern Division.
The Cougars take on the Prince Albert Raiders today starting at 5 p.m. PT. For 18-year-old Crossley and 16-year-old Rhinehart, both defencemen, that’s a Raider reunion they’ve both anticipated since Jan. 6, the day they were traded along with the Raiders’ first-round bantam pick in 2018 for 19-year-old winger Kody McDonald and a conditional thirdrounder in 2018.
Kjemhus will have to wait until Wednesday before he gets to square off against his old teammates in Regina, where he played six games over the past two seasons with the Pats. The Cougars acquired him Jan. 5, along with 15-yearold defenceman Ethan McColm and the Pats’ third- and fifth-round picks in 2018, for the rights to 20-year-old winger Jesse Gabrielle and 17-year-old defenceman Jonas Harkins.
Three of the top five teams in the Western Hockey League’s overall standings - Moose Jaw (first), Swift Current (second) and Brandon (fifth) - are in the East and the Cougars will be playing them all on this trip. They face the Blades in Saskatoon on Saturday, then hit Swift Current on Tuesday. After play- ing the Pats, who are preparing to host the Memorial Cup this season, the Cats head to Brandon next Friday and wrap up their tour Saturday in Moose Jaw.
“I won’t lie to you, it’s going to be tough, they have a pretty good division,” said Crossley, who scored his first goal as a Cougar Saturday in a 4-2 win over Lethbridge at CN Centre. “But I’m sure we can pull out a few wins and I’m just excited to play my old team and hopefully we’ll get a win against them.”
The Cougars boarded the bus Wednesday afternoon and aren’t expected to be back home until late on Feb. 4.
“It’s going to be a long one, there’s some good hockey teams over there and they’re really skilled so if we can play our heavy, intense-forecheck game we should be alright,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk.
The Cougars (18-23-4-3) are 10 points behind the Tri-City Americans for the second wild card spot in the playoffs and have fallen 14 points behind Vancouver for third place in the B.C. Division. The Raiders (18-20-7-2) are sixth in the East, four points behind Saskatoon for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff position.
The Cougars will have LW Josh Maser back in the lineup after missed Saturday’s game with the flu. D Cole Moberg is still listed as day-today, still recovering after getting hit in the face with puck last week. C Brogan O’Brien has resumed skating, but his knee is still not 100 per cent and he’s still on the day-today injury list. Raiders D Sergei Sapego is out with an upper-body injury and RW Regan Nagy has a lower-body ailment that will sideline him for tonight’s game.
NHL Central Scouting in its midterm report ranked Cougars LW Jackson Leppard 95th among North American skaters available for the 2018 NHL draft in Dallas, June 22-23. Former Cougar C Justin Almeida, traded last year to Moose Jaw in the Nikita Popugaev deal, is ranked 125th. Almeida has 28 goals and 66 points in 48 games with the Warriors... McDonald has three goals and one assist in eight games for Prince Albert and is listed third in Raiders scoring with 22 goals and 40 points in 35 games. ... Former Cougars Brad Morrison (1g, 2A) was in on all three goals the Lethbridge Hurricanes scored Tuesday in a 7-3 loss to the Kootenay Ice. The 20-year-old Prince George native has 17 goals and 51 points in 51 games and has been on hot streak since he joined Lethbridge in a deadline deal from Vancouver. He has six goals and 10 assists for 16 points in nine games with the ‘Canes.... Pats’ captain Sam Steel joined the 300-point club Wednesday in a 7-3 win over the Blades. His five assists left Steel with 303 career points. Gabrielle also scored in that game, his sixth in seven games since coming to the Pats from Providence of the AHL.... Former Cougar forwards Spencer Asuchak, Zach Pochiro and Colby McAuley are teammates now in the ECHL for the Allen (Pa.) Americans. Matvichuk was an associate coach of the Americans for two seasons, from 2012-14.
I won’t lie to you, it’s going to be tough, they have a pretty good division.
— Austin Crossley
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