The Cariboo Cougars kicked off training camp at CN Centre this weekend – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – The road to the Telus Cup begins this weekend for the Cariboo Cougars.

The team launched its training camp at CN Centre last night and head coach and general manager Trevor Sprague likes what he sees so far.

“It’s going really well. We’ve got about 21 guys at camp and 12 guys who are at Western Hockey League camps or Junior A camps at this point in time,” he says. “So the filter down effect will happen here over the next couple of weeks but we like what we see in camp so far and some good, young, fresh faces are ready to go.”

So how many roster spots are up for grabs this year?

“Well the politically correct answer is all of them are open. But at spring camp we had about 12 guys that we had to sign at that point due to league rules,” says Sprague.

“So for right now we have about six or seven spots that are still open and haven’t been filled.”

And though the club has automatically qualified for the Telus Cup this year as hosts he still has one big goal in mind.

“We want to be Team Pacific not Team Host so we want to win our league, we want to go to Pacific’s and kick butt on Alberta and then have them come over here as Team Host.”

But in the short term Sprague says camp will continue all week until the club travels to the Interior to play five clubs from the Lower Mainland starting Thursday.

The Cougars, BC Major Midget League finalists last year, will then kick off their regular season September 24^th in Trail when they face-off against the Kootenay Ice.