A former Prince George Cougars goaltender is heading to the Spengler Cup in Switzerland.
Taylor Gauthier was among 25 players selected by Hockey Canada today (Tuesday) for the invitational tournament.
The 24-year-old from Calgary is 2-1 this season with the Wheeling Nailers, the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Last season with the Nailers, Gauthier went 18-10-2 with a 2.06 goals against average and a .928 save percentage.
Gauthier was named the ECHL Goaltender of the Year in 2023-24. He also got played for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on 25 different occasions in the past three seasons.
He played four and a half seasons with the Prince George Cougars between 2017-2022.
Gauthier played the most minutes of any goalie (2,870) in 2019-2020 prior to the pandemic shut down
He won a gold medal with Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in 2018-19 and took home a silver medal at the 2020-21 World Juniors in Edmonton.
Gauthier enjoyed a brief stint with the Portland Winterhawks after getting dealt their by the Cougars in December of 2021.
With Portland, Gauthier went 24-4-0 with 2.16 goals against average and a .931 save percentage.
In the 2022 WHL playoffs, he tallied a 7-4 record with 1.92 goals against average and a .937 save percentage.
Canada’s first game at the Spengler Cup is on Boxing Day when they take on the US Collegiate Selects (11:15am Pacific Time).
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