Colin Jacobs is fitting in to his new home in Prince George

Former T-Bird Colin Jacobs picked up five points against Everett last week (photo whl.ca)

By Andrew Eide

When the Seattle Thunderbirds hit the ice Friday night in Prince George there will be a familiar face lined up for the Cougars. Colin Jacobs was traded from Seattle to Prince George for Jesse Forsberg just prior to training camp. So far, the former T-Birds center is fitting in well and seems to have found himself a home in British Columbia.

After spending three full seasons with Seattle, what was Jacobs’ initial reaction the the trade?

“I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “I was expecting it, I was excited to have a new start and I love being up here in Prince George, I love the city and looking forward to our home opener this weekend against Seattle.”

Jacobs’ best season with Seattle was the 2010-2011 season when he scored a career high 22 goals and was selected by Buffalo in the fourth round of the draft. Last season he only played in 44 games and saw his goal total dip to nine. On the surface it seems he had a bad year, but Jacobs was playing after suffering a bad shoulder injury that seemed to linger and affect his play last year. Hockey players are reluctant to admit they’re hurt but Jacobs does say the injury hampered him last year.

“It affected me a lot,” Jacobs said of his injury. “I had just come off eight months of rehab and then to have to jump into the season mid-way, into a fast paced game and league was hard, but that’s what has me excited to play this year healthy.”

After playing with one team and one set of teammates fitting in and finding your groove can be difficult. So far Jacobs feels he’s fitting in and that the cougars are primed for a good season.

“It’s been great, we have a lot of good players,” Jacobs says of the Cougars. “We’ve really clicked so far, we’ve seen most of the teams out here and I think we will be one of the top end teams out here.”

Jacobs has set the bar high for Cougars fans and their expectations as he burst out of the gates with a two goal-three assist opening night effort in Everett against the Silvertips. He added an assist in their second game to have six points after two games.

“Yeah, it (the start) felt great ,especially after coming off of the injury last year to come out and have a game like that, obviously I’m not going to get five points every night but it was good to get going like that,” Jacobs said of his first game.

So far the Cougars have Jacobs centering their top line playing with top prospect, and former number one bantam pick Alex Forsberg (who is also Seattle’s Jesse Forsberg’s younger brother) which should give him a chance to put up good numbers. They’ve also utilized him on the point on their number one power play where he’s acted as a quarterback. Jacobs likes the role so far.

“Things obviously change in hockey, the lines change from game to game,” he said of his role early. “But that’s where they have me now and its been a good fit, I am excited to have an opportunity to play with guys like that out there.”

Being drafted by Buffalo gives Jacobs a lofty goal to aim for, to get a pro contract. He was in Buffalo’s camp last season but was unable to skate due to his injury. This year, because of the NHL lockout he missed out on the opportunity to gain the valuable experience that a young player can gain by attending an NHL training camp.

“Obviously it’s disappointing to not get to go and experience the NHL camp but I’m glad to be here,” Jacobs says. “I’m wearing the red and white now and in the long run I’m glad that I won’t have to miss any games, but hopefully the NHL can get that stuff all figured out.”

Friday night Jacobs will be battling it out with his former team, guys that he knows well and considers good friends. What is that going to be like for him?

“It’s going to be weird to play against those guys,” he said of facing Seattle.”To play against a roster of like 25 guys who I’m friends with and know really well. But in the end they are wearing a different jersey and it’s Seattle versus Prince George.”

In the age of Twitter, Facebook and text messages has their been any good-natured chirping so far?

“There really hasn’t been any, You know I respect those guys so much and they are such good friends that there hasn’t been too much of that,” he says.

When asked if he thought there might be some friendly chatting on the ice he says “Oh, Probably.”

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andyeide