It鈥檚 the Goalies R Us Division of the Western Hockey League.
Every team in the sa国际传媒 Division has a top-end player in the crease. That will be evident when the Victoria Royals play the Prince George Cougars tonight and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Cougars feature Taylor Gauthier, the Canadian U-18 gold-medallist, who is the fifth-ranked North American goaltender for the 2019 NHL draft and second-highest ranked goalie from the WHL. The Royals have veteran 20-year-old Griffen Outhouse, whose 112 victories rank No. 7 on the all-time WHL career list.
The Kamloops Blazers feature 20-year-old NHL Las Vegas Golden Knights-prospect Dylan Ferguson of Lantzville, the Kelowna Rockets 2019 NHL draft-projected Roman Basran and the Vancouver Giants 2018 Arizona Coyotes NHL draft-pick David Tendeck.
Most teams in the division also appear to have their understudy goalies of the future already selected. It鈥檚 Juan de Fuca-product Dylan Garand for the Blazers, Trent Miner for the Giants and Americans Brock Gould for the Royals, James Porter for the Rockets and Isaiah DiLaura for the Cougars.
鈥淭his depth of goaltending is not replicated in any other division,鈥� said Gauthier.
But while the other creasemen in the sa国际传媒 Division are either playoff-bound 鈥� or like Islanders Ferguson and Garand fighting for their playoff lives in Kamloops 鈥� the race is over for a second consecutive season for Gauthier and DiLaura.
The Cougars (17-37-8) have officially been eliminated from post-season contention. Prince George trails the final wildcard position in the Western Conference, held by the Seattle Thunderbirds, by 13 points with only six games remaining.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a tough season, same as last season,鈥� said Gauthier.
鈥淲e just want to win each game we have remaining.鈥�
At least he has a big summer to look forward to as the NHL draft looms in June at Vancouver.
鈥淪ure, that creeps into your mind,鈥� said Gauthier.
How could it not? The Calgary native could only have dreamed about the draft as he grew up going to hometown WHL games and idolizing Hitmen goalie Justin Pogge. He would rush home after games and emulate Pogge鈥檚 moves with a tennis ball off the basement walls. Whatever he did, it worked, as Gauthier backstopped sa国际传媒 to the gold medal last summer in the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky U-18 Cup.
鈥淧utting on the Canadian jersey and winning gold has been the best hockey experience of my life so far,鈥� said Gauthier.
There promises to be many more highlight experiences to come, although not in Prince George this season.
Meanwhile, the sa国际传媒 Division second-place Royals (31-25-4) are nine points ahead of third-place Kelowna with both teams having eight games remaining. It would take a monumental collapse by the Royals, coupled by an equally massive rally by the Rockets, for Victoria not to capture second place and home-ice advantage for the first round of the divisional playoffs.
鈥淲e want to be spiralling upwards and playing well heading into the playoffs, not the other way around,鈥� said Royals forward Kody McDonald.
The 20-year-old plays his final two games against a Cougars club that he spent most of his WHL career with.
鈥淚t feels special heading into the stretch drive 鈥� my last two games against Prince George 鈥� and the last eight regular-season games of my WHL career,鈥� said McDonald.
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