Game Day- Cougars host Oil Kings in Pre-Season Action
The CN Centre will be in the spotlight once again tonight in Prince George as the Cougars welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings to town for a 7:00 pm start.
For the Cougars, tonight’s game marks the first chance to strut their stuff in front of the hometown crowd. Prince George opened up the pre-season last weekend on the road in the Oil Kings annual pre-season tournament held in St. Albert, Alberta. The Cougars and Oil Kings did not face each other in the event.
The Cougars enter action tonight with a 1-1-0-0 pre-season record while the Oil Kings are 1-2-0-0.
The Oil Kings and Cougars have met only one other time in Edmonton’s short existence. Back on February 22nd the Oil Kings knocked off the Cougars 5-0 here at the CN Centre.
Tomas Vincour returns to the Oil Kings roster in time for this weekend, and he certainly will be welcomed back with open arms. Vincour, who the Oil Kings selected 1’st overall in the 2007 CHL import draft was the co-leader in goals scored last season with 16, and finished in a 3-way tie for the clubs overall lead in points with Brendan Dowd and Craig McCallum. The Oil Kings expect big things from the native of Brno in the Czech Republic.
For players on the Cougars, this weekend marks another opportunity to impress the coaching staff as well as General Manager Dallas Thompson. With twenty-eight players remaining in camp there will still be player movement as the team hopes to pare down the roster to twenty-three or so players by the opening weekend. Time is running out for some players to earn a jersey on opening night, making these two pre-season games vital. “Guy’s at this point in camp can’t afford to take a night or two off if they want to crack the roster for opening night.” Said General Manager Dallas Thompson. “We have seen a pretty good effort so far and it would be silly to throw all that hard work out the window and stop now, I expect a lot out of our players this weekend.”
Tickets for tonight’s contest are $8.00 for adults and just $5.00 for children, students, and seniors. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
