Prince George, B.C.- The  Prince George Cougars had a good season,  and  that carries  a  price.   For the  team, it means  they get to select ninth overall in the first round of the 2016 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.

The draft is set for tomorrow in Calgary  and the Cougars haven’t been this deep in the first round  since 2011 when they had the  10th pick in the first round.

Cougars Scouting Director, Bob Simmonds says it’s a bittersweet feeling “On one hand, we’re drafting later in the first round because we’re improving every season, but it also means that we have less control over how the first round unfolds. That said, we’ve done our due diligence and we are confident that we’re going to get an impact player with the ninth pick.”

Last year, the Prince George Cougars had the 8th overall selection and chose  forward Jackson Leppard from the North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks. In 34 games this season with the Vancouver Northwest Giants, he scored 14 goals and added 17 assists and 32 penalty minutes. He played two games for the Cougars as an under ager in 2015-16. Other recent first round selections include: Justin Almeida (5^th overall, 2014), Josh Anderson (3^rd overall, 2013), Brad Morrison (7^th overall, 2012) and Jansen Harkins (2^nd overall, 2012).

Here is a breakdown of the Cougars scheduled picks:

Round 1 – 9th Overall
Round 2 – 31^st Overall
Round 3 – 53^rd Overall
Round 5 – 97^th Overall
Round 6 – 125^th Overall (Acquired from the Calgary Hitmen for Tyler Mrkonjic)
Round 7 – 142^nd Overall (Acquired from the Regina Pats for Aaron Macklin)
Round 7 – 144^th Overall (Acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders for Cal Babych)
Round 8 – 163^rd Overall
Round 10 – 207^th Overall

The 2016 WHL Bantam Draft begins tomorrow morning at 7:30 am Pacific,   You can follow the  draft progress at: www.whl.ca and on Twitter by following @PGCougars.