Cougars sign draft picks

The Prince George Cougars have signed two of their bantam draft picks.

Defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk and forward Koehn Ziemmer are on standard Western Hockey League player agreements, the team said Monday.

Both played for the OHA Edmonton bantam prep team of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League last season.

“We are thrilled to have these two in the fold,” Mark Lamb general manager and head coach.

“We are in a development cycle that is trending upwards and these two will be key pieces to the core of our team that we feel will be very competitive in the coming years.”

The Cougars used their first pick, third overall, in the 2019 bantam draft to select Dowhaniuk, who comes in at five-foot-10 and 160 pounds.

The Sherwood Park, Alta. product played in 25 games and was his team’s top-scoring defenceman with eight goals and 27 assists to go with 34 penalty minutes.

Dowhaniuk was named the CSSHL bantam prep division top defenceman. He also was named an Alberta Cup All-Star after he posted two goals and two assists in five games.

“He can play the game anyway you want him to play; he’s a smoothing-skating puck-mover. He brings a physical element too and he’s only going to grow,” said Cougars scouting director Bob Simmonds.

Prince George used their second pick, fourth overall, to select Ziemmer.

The Mayerthorpe, Alta. native measures five-foot-10, 179 pounds and led OHA Edmonton in scoring and finished second in league scoring, as he compiled 37 goals and 39 assists in 29 games.

Ziemmer also played at the Alberta Cup, where he tallied two goals and two assists in five games.

“Koehn is a highly-skilled goal scorer with a versatile offensive package. He’s a constant producer and will be counted on to do the same at the WHL level,” said Simmonds.

Both Dowhaniuk and Ziemmer took part in Hockey Alberta’s under-16 provincial camp in Red Deer last week.

The camp is part of an evaluation process for Team Alberta’s roster for the 2019 WHL Cup in the fall.