Photo courtesy Prince George Cougars

Prince George, B.C. – Training camp for the Prince George Cougars is officially in the books.

It wrapped up last night when Team Black edged Team White 5-4 in the fifth annual Rob Charney Cup. Rob Charney was a long-time Cougars scout who lost his battle with cancer in 2013.

Ethan O’Rourke potted the winner for Team Black with less than half a minute left in regulation.

Fraser Rodgers, the club’s play-by-play man and broadcasting manager, says it was probably one of the best Black-White games they’ve had.

“Yeah, by all accounts, it was my first one so it’s hard for me to gauge, but talking with other staff members of the Cougars they said it was a great turnout,” he says.

“So, we’re definitely getting the word out there that the Rob Charney Cup is a great tradition and it’s good to see fans getting excited about the season which is less than a month away.”

Rodgers says the fact roster spots were on the line helped increase the intensity of play.

“I think the players were pretty excited as a group to play in a game-like atmosphere with the great turnout, having the DJ there, the PA announcer – it ramped things up. There were also spots to be had.”

Next up for the Cougars will be a weekend tournament in Red Deer to be followed up with games in Vancouver the next weekend.

Rodgers says they’ll carry a big roster heading into this weekend before any cuts are made.

“Just because some of the players will be heading off to NHL camps. I don’t know if they’ll be any cuts today per se, I think they’ll carry about 45 to 46 players to this road trip to Red Deer then to Vancouver,” he says.

“They might pare down a few players after the coming weekend. You might see Alberta based guys reassigned to their minor hockey team.”

The Cougars will be back on home ice when they host the Kamloops Blazers Sept. 15. It’ll be their final pre-season game prior to opening their regular season at home Sept. 22 versus the Spokane Chiefs.