Recently the Prince George Cougars and the rest of the WHL teams have started their season. The Cougars so far have been undefeated in regulation time with a 3-0-1 record so that brings up the question. Are the Prince George Cougars serious about winning this year? Already there has been great first impressions brought by a few key players. Goaltender Brett Zarowny recorded a shutout in his first WHL start against the Everett Silvertips. He did allow 6 goals on 39 shots on the second game of the double-header but goalies have the hardest job of all positions on the ice when it comes to finding consistency. (He still recorded a win that game because the Cougars scored 7 goals for a 7-6 victory.) He so far faced 64 shots with 6 goals allowed which means he has a.909% with 2.88 GAA including a shutout which means he is doing good so far.
There is a centerman who is on a hot scoring streak right now and that is Colin Jacobs. This is his last year eligible for playing in the CHL so he has to make a good impression if he wants to rank up to the pro leagues and so far he has been a mini scoring machine with 9 points in 4 games with the Cougars. I doubt he will keep that pace up at over 2 points per game but it shows that he has capability to score in bunches. The real key to success for him is that he will be consistent with his efforts.
The other centerman to watch for 17 year old Alex Forseberg. He has 5 points in his last 4 games this year and if last season was any indication, he could have a strong 70 point season if he is healthy. He recorded 40 points in 51 games in his rookie season and is showing promise heading into his draft class which is 2013. When you are 17 years old and you end up scoring at a point per game average plus you have proven to do a good job being defensive in your own zone in the WHL then you are a minimum top 60 in the NHL draft chart. He was -9 last season but he was on a mediocre squad that just barely squeezed into the playoffs. A good plus 15 to 20 for him will raise some eyebrows especially with a solid scoring effort so he must realize he has a chance of being a draft choice for the upcoming 2013 NHL draft.
If you put the team together as a whole so far based on stats then you will know so far that the Cougars have the least amount of Penalty Minutes in the entire league which means they have shown discipline, plus they have scored 18 goals which means they are 2nd in the league in that department only behind the Brandon Wheat Kings who have 25 goals in 5 games. They should try to keep their GA down because that would be their main reason to losing games. they already have 2.75 GAA which doesn't sound bad but if the cougars start to take bad penalties then they will lose their status as the least penalized team plus which means having to chase pucks in their own zone more often hence leading to more scoring chances for the other team. Time will tell how their season will shape up after about 25 to 30 games but so far it looks okay to me.
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