Sput
09-04-2007, 10:10 AM
courtesy of www.princegeorgecitizen.com
Rookies do a lot of the scoring in Edmonton
by JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor
The Prince George Cougars recognize they’ll need young players to step up this season and make up for mostly-graduated offence.
They just didn’t expect it to start this soon.
The Cougars lost two of three games in WHL exhibition play on the weekend at the Servis Centre in St. Albert, Alta., defeating Swift Current 4-3 in the first one before dropping close games to the Regina Pats and expansion Edmonton Oil Kings -- 2-1 and 5-3 respectively.
Of the eight goals scored by the Cougars, six came from players who were not involved in last spring’s lengthy playoff run. It’s too early to decide whether that’s a good omen, or a bad one.
“No, not a lot of scoring from our veterans, but we did have chances,” said Cougars coach Drew Schoneck.
“We all know that if you look at who did the bulk of our scoring last year, most of those guys are gone. Returning guys like Dale Hunt, Jordie Deagle and Evan Fuller, they didn’t see a lot of power play time or the big minutes because we wanted to look at other players this weekend. Right or wrong, we’re going to look for a lot of big things out of our veterans.”
Rookie netminder Joel Danyluk, 17, was in goal for both losses, but Schoneck was not displeased. Veteran Real Cyr, expected to play nearly all the games this season, shone with 31 saves in Saturday’s game against Swift Current, but Danyluk, a product of the Yorkton Harvest midget program, has started to prove he can be the heir apparent to the fourth-year Cougar. Danyluk stopped 35 Edmonton shots on Monday.
“He played well both games -- they were both losses, but I’m not going to fault the losses on him, that’s for sure,” said Schoneck.
“Danyluk was a guy who kinda got the backup job to Real by default, and I thought he did very well.”
Alex Poulter, Jordie Deagle and Evan Fuller scored in the Edmonton game.
“We were up 2-0 in the first on the goals by Fuller and Poulter, and then we ran into some penalty troubles and the momentum swung to give them a 3-2 lead after two periods,” said Schoneck. “They went up 4-2, then Deagle scored to get us close again. They got an empty-netter to close it.”
Among the other players who gave glimmers of hope were two rookie defencemen.
“Art Bidlevskii and Trevor Bauer, two young defencemen, played well,” said Schoneck.
“We weren’t sure how (Bidlevskii and Bauer) would handle things, but both guys stepped up.”
The lone Cougars scorer in the Regina loss was Bidlevskii, and the Cats missed a glorious chance late to tie the game -- a lengthy two-man advantage deep in the third period. Against Swift Current, Kupec, Bauer, Bidlevskii and Brett Connolly, all with their first WHL tallies, handled the scoring.
The Cougars returned to the city overnight, and will have a day of relaxation today. Roster moves are due to cut back on the current 31-player roster -- a number that includes Team Canada skaters Dana Tyrell and Ty Wishart, as well as three 1992-born players who can only suit up for five games this season. Connolly is one of those players who must be sent back to midget.
“There were guys who played themselves out of spots, and there were guys who played themselves into spots,” said Schoneck.
“That’s what the exhibition season is for. I thought some guys separated themselves, and some guys fell back. We’ll make some roster moves either (today) or Wednesday -- probably anywhere from two to five. We’ve only got the two exhibition games left and we’d like to get down to a smaller number.”
The Cougars will play a home-and-home exhibition series with the Kamloops Blazers this coming weekend, starting Friday at CN Centre.
Rookies do a lot of the scoring in Edmonton
by JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor
The Prince George Cougars recognize they’ll need young players to step up this season and make up for mostly-graduated offence.
They just didn’t expect it to start this soon.
The Cougars lost two of three games in WHL exhibition play on the weekend at the Servis Centre in St. Albert, Alta., defeating Swift Current 4-3 in the first one before dropping close games to the Regina Pats and expansion Edmonton Oil Kings -- 2-1 and 5-3 respectively.
Of the eight goals scored by the Cougars, six came from players who were not involved in last spring’s lengthy playoff run. It’s too early to decide whether that’s a good omen, or a bad one.
“No, not a lot of scoring from our veterans, but we did have chances,” said Cougars coach Drew Schoneck.
“We all know that if you look at who did the bulk of our scoring last year, most of those guys are gone. Returning guys like Dale Hunt, Jordie Deagle and Evan Fuller, they didn’t see a lot of power play time or the big minutes because we wanted to look at other players this weekend. Right or wrong, we’re going to look for a lot of big things out of our veterans.”
Rookie netminder Joel Danyluk, 17, was in goal for both losses, but Schoneck was not displeased. Veteran Real Cyr, expected to play nearly all the games this season, shone with 31 saves in Saturday’s game against Swift Current, but Danyluk, a product of the Yorkton Harvest midget program, has started to prove he can be the heir apparent to the fourth-year Cougar. Danyluk stopped 35 Edmonton shots on Monday.
“He played well both games -- they were both losses, but I’m not going to fault the losses on him, that’s for sure,” said Schoneck.
“Danyluk was a guy who kinda got the backup job to Real by default, and I thought he did very well.”
Alex Poulter, Jordie Deagle and Evan Fuller scored in the Edmonton game.
“We were up 2-0 in the first on the goals by Fuller and Poulter, and then we ran into some penalty troubles and the momentum swung to give them a 3-2 lead after two periods,” said Schoneck. “They went up 4-2, then Deagle scored to get us close again. They got an empty-netter to close it.”
Among the other players who gave glimmers of hope were two rookie defencemen.
“Art Bidlevskii and Trevor Bauer, two young defencemen, played well,” said Schoneck.
“We weren’t sure how (Bidlevskii and Bauer) would handle things, but both guys stepped up.”
The lone Cougars scorer in the Regina loss was Bidlevskii, and the Cats missed a glorious chance late to tie the game -- a lengthy two-man advantage deep in the third period. Against Swift Current, Kupec, Bauer, Bidlevskii and Brett Connolly, all with their first WHL tallies, handled the scoring.
The Cougars returned to the city overnight, and will have a day of relaxation today. Roster moves are due to cut back on the current 31-player roster -- a number that includes Team Canada skaters Dana Tyrell and Ty Wishart, as well as three 1992-born players who can only suit up for five games this season. Connolly is one of those players who must be sent back to midget.
“There were guys who played themselves out of spots, and there were guys who played themselves into spots,” said Schoneck.
“That’s what the exhibition season is for. I thought some guys separated themselves, and some guys fell back. We’ll make some roster moves either (today) or Wednesday -- probably anywhere from two to five. We’ve only got the two exhibition games left and we’d like to get down to a smaller number.”
The Cougars will play a home-and-home exhibition series with the Kamloops Blazers this coming weekend, starting Friday at CN Centre.