Young Cougars prepared to help team in championship pursuit

“We want winning, we won’t accept losing. It was obviously good last year, we try to throw that away and focus on it here,” said fifth-year Cougars’ Centre Riley Heidt.

With several key players like Zac Funk, Hudson Thornton, and more, leaving the team, it’ll be up to the young stars like Ravensbergen to step up and fill that void, as well as Cougars’ prospects. Among the prospects is defenseman Carson Carels, who is preparing for his first full season with the team after seeing limited action last year.

“Since skating this whole summer with Hudson, I’ve learned a lot about his role. And even coming in last year in the playoffs, just to see what he’s about is is awesome. And those are pretty big shoes to fill, but I think I could have a chance at doing what he can do,” Carels said, on the idea of filling the gap left by Thornton’s departure.

His teammates certainly believe Carels and the younger players are ready to step up, as Heidt says he’s enjoyed playing alongside and against Carels during training camp and seeing what he can do.

In my eyes I believe he’s a very high end talent and a world-class defenseman for his age. He’s very good and I like playing with him and I’m sure he’s going to fit in really good with us this year,” Heidt said.

It’s certainly big shoes to fill for Carels, but he says he plans on taking what he learned from Thornton and bringing that into the locker room.

“Just his leadership on and off the ice, for sure. And then just how hard he works. He’s a perfectionist, and that’s kind of what you have to do to win championships,” Carels said when asked what he learned from Thornton.

While the team is putting last season behind them and fully focusing on what’s up ahead, last year also definitely serves as some motivation for the team to come back bigger and better than ever.

“It was a lot of fun, being with the guys and winning all the time, especially as the crowd started to come out, especially in the playoffs, it was probably the coolest thing that happened so far in my hockey career,” Ravensbergen said.

“The city is really behind us now after that huge season, and we’re just going to take all the momentum we had from last season into this next one,” Carels added.

With a mix of veteran talent and young players growing into big roles, the Cougars are confident they can pick up where they left off last year as they pursue the Memorial Cup.

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by Tommy Osborne

Young Cougars prepared to help team in championship pursuit

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