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Greg Gardner and Don Nachbaur both made history Saturday.
Gardner, the captain of the Prince George Cougars, became the franchise's all-time games-played leader when he suited up -- and scored a goal, his career-high 23rd -- in a 6-2 Cougars loss in Kelowna.
Gardner, a fifth-year Cougar who joined the club as a 16-year-old after being a second-round draft choice, has now played in 337 WHL regular season games, all with the same team. He passes former Cougars captain Chris Falloon, who was the captain of the team in Gardner's rookie season and played in 336 games in his five-year tenure in Prince George.
Gardner will make his final tally 338 games Sunday, which is the most for any player in franchise history including the days in Victoria, when the Cougars (19-48-1-3, 42 points, ninth in Western Conference) close out the road trip and the season with a stop in Kamloops. That game against the Blazers will also mark the final WHL game in the careers of fourth-year netminder Real Cyr and fifth-year defenceman Kalvin Sagert, who started his major junior time with the Blazers before moving to the Lethbridge Hurricanes and then the Cougars.
Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck is working the bench by himself this weekend as assistant coach Wade Klippenstein, who is also paid as the team's assistant general manager, handled scouting duties at the Sask First prospect gathering. Cougars GM Dallas Thompson is in Colorado scouting a tournament there.
On Saturday, Jamie Benn ahad two goals for the Rockets, with singles from Brady Leavold, Cody Almond, Evan Bloodoff and Kelowna captain James McEwan, while Gardner's team got its other goal from rookie Justin Maylan, who now has six goals in 30 games since joining the team in a trade from Moose Jaw prior to the trade deadline. Cyr made 40 saves in the loss for the Cougars.
Colin Long had two assists for Kelowna to become the first WHL player to reach 100 points this season. Long, in position to become the first American player to lead the WHL in scoring, has a one-point lead over Chilliwack Bruins centre and Burnaby native Mark Santorelli, and the Bruins have a Sunday game against their first-round playoff opponent, the Vancouver Giants.
The Rockets will face the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first round, while the Everett Silvertips will play the Spokane Chiefs.
The fourth series will feature Nachbaur, a Prince George native and veteran WHL head coach, and his Tri-City Americans against the Blazers -- that's because the Americans secured first overall and the U.S. Division pennant on Saturday with a 2-1 win over the Spokane Chiefs in the night's marquee showdown. The Americans will lift their first two banners to the rafters thanks to a 52-win, 108-point season that has them holding home-ice advantage as long as they stay alive in the playoffs.
In the Eastern Conference, Calgary secured the top seed with a Saturday win over the Kootenay Ice. The Hitmen will meet the Moose Jaw Warriors in the opening round.
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