Development of young Cougars squad on an Upper swing

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“We took a lot of steps forward,” stated Upper to CKPG.

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“We know where we have to be this year coming up. We know Mark’s (Lamb) playing style a lot more now and we know what we have to do to be successful.”

For Upper personally, he saw his point total climb in his sophomore year. He finished 2019-2020 with 8 goals and 13 assists.

Overall Upper’s game took a major leap from year 1 to year 2 in his WHL career.

“It was a lot more playing structured hockey,” explained Upper.

“You have to play as a team and not just play your style of game. It is a lot of growing but changing up some small things and playing with your advantages.”

The way the club finished the season last year is a motivator for Upper and has been working hard this off-season to make sure he’s at his best when next season does begin.

“Just get stronger. Each year you have younger guys coming in, but I’m also not a 20-year-old yet. You always have to get stronger. You want to be the strongest guy out there so you can overpower other players. Every off-season I work on that and work on getting faster too. If you don’t work on getting faster, people will pass you, so you always work on your speed too.”

When it comes to potential goals he wants to reach next season with the Cats, the 19-year-old Calgary product has one simple goal which he wants to achieve.

“Just to make playoffs,” stated Upper.

“We all want to be there. We all want to play meaningful games and stuff. Playoffs are where the fun happens. The season got cut short last year and we want to play as long as we can next season.”