Hounds George determined to ‘win a championship’
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media)
It started out with some teasing and a joke.
Team Canada’s Carter George recalls a summer conversation with Soo Greyhounds centre Brady Smith.
“He was joking around with me about how I was coming to the Sault and becoming a Greyhound,” George said on Wednesday afternoon, mere hours after the 19-year-old (2006 birth year) goaltender was dealt to the Hounds in exchange for seven draft choices.
Matt Smith, the Soo’s goaltending coach from 2021-23, serves as George’s personal goaltending coach.
Brady Smith was shooting pucks at George at one of Matt Smith’s summer hockey sessions.
“Right after the trade, he (Brady Smith) texted me and said, jokingly: ‘I told you so,’” George chuckled.
The second-year player was one of several Hounds to welcome George, after the Soo made one of its biggest acquisitions in recent seasons.
In exchange for sending the Owen Sound Attack second-round draft choices in 2027, ’28 and ’29, third-round picks in ’26 and ’28 and fourth-round selections in ’27 and ’29, the Greyhounds are getting a very-talented player with a bulging resume.
Most recently, George, a signed Los Angeles Kings prospect, won a bronze medal with the Canadian squad at the World Junior Championships in Minnesota.
His goal “since I came into the league,” George explained, “has been to win a championship. And I haven’t been able to do it yet.”
In fact, the Thunder Bay native, who now calls Barrie home, has never even won a playoff game.
The Attack has been swept in four straight in the first round of both the 2024 and ’25 playoffs.
“But the group of guys we have in the Sault has something special going,” said George, whose mother, Tara (Coulterman) was born here. “The organization and coaches are phenomenal. I’ve heard nothing but good things. I think we have what it takes to win an OHL championship.”
The six-foot-one, 190-pounder, went on to say he “just wants to help the guys. I want to be a backbone for them and be reliable for them.”
The Hounds are slated to entertain the Sudbury Wolves on Wednesday (7:07 p.m.) and George’s plan is to fly to the Sault on Friday.
That night, the Greyhounds are scheduled to take on the Ottawa 67s. Niagara is here on Saturday and both games are 7:07 p.m. starts.
Head coach John Dean had no comment when asked when George, who was in goal for Canada’s bronze-medal winning game on Monday, might make his first Greyhounds start.
What the coach did express on Wednesday was his level of excitement following the trade.
“We picked up a world-class goaltender and from my brief conversation with Carter and from what I understand from others around the league, a world-class human being,” said Dean, whose club carries a 21-14-1-1 record into the clash with the Wolves (15-21-1-0).
When asked, George said he didn’t specifically ask to be traded.
He called it a “mutual agreement,” explaining how the player and the club had discussions prior to the beginning of the season. At that time, George let Owen Sound know how much he wanted to win a title in his final OHL season.
Attack general manager “Dale DeGray wanted to do what was best for me and I want to thank him for that,” George said.
His maternal grandparents, Tom and Mary Coulterman, live in the Sault. Both Tom, as a coach, and Tara, as an elite player, have enjoyed successful curling careers.
George, who has typically visited the Sault once or twice each year, said he’s learned so much from his grandfather, who’s coached a number of high-profile curlers.
That would include Sault natives Brad Jacobs, E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden. With Tom Coulterman serving as coach, that rink, which also included Ryan Fry, won a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Coulterman was inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
George’s father, Mike, also has family in the Sault.
Mike’s aunt and uncle live in this city.
“My mother, especially, has been getting lots of text messages from old friends in the Sault,” Carter George said.
Meantime, playing with (Hounds centre) Brady Martin over the last month with Team Canada was enjoyable, George added.
“Lots of fun,” he said. “Brady has great things to say about the Sault. And the past couple of days have been a whirlwind for me.”
George said he was “pretty much on the phone all day yesterday and today (Wednesday). But I’m excited for this new chapter. I’m eager to get there, meet everyone and start winning hockey games.”
