The Vancouver Giants are in town for a two-game set against the Prince George Cougars tonight and Wednesday at CN Centre.
If the games are anything like the last two the Giants played in Prince George, be prepared for a couple of heart-stoppers.
The Cougars eked out a pair of 2-1 victories on home ice, in stark contrast to their two blowout losses at the hands of the Giants this season in Vancouver. On home ice the Giants beat the Cougars 6-1 on Oct. 5, then handed the Cats their worst defeat of the season on Oct. 18, a 9-1 hammering at the Pacific Coliseum.
"We know what type of team they are, they've got some skill players and just like every other team, we have to come here and play a simple game and work hard," said Cougars forward Chase Witala. "It seems like home ice has helped both teams this year so hopefully we can keep building off that on our home ice."
The fifth-place Giants (8-12-0-0) are coming off a 7-5 loss to Victoria Saturday night in Vancouver and have been slumping lately, going 2-8-0-0 in their last 10 games. The Cougars (11-11-0-0, third in the B.C. Division) have lost three straight, including last weekend's 6-3 and 6-2 losses to the league-leading Kelowna Rockets, and have gone 4-6-0-0 in their last 10. This will be the last trip for the Giants to Prince George in the regular season.
"They're a team that's had a tough go, too, and we have to make sure the teams that are below us stay below us," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "The next four games are against teams that are below us and you've got make sure you win those games."
Three Giants forwards are close to a point-per-game pace. Former Red Deer Rebel Joel Hamilton leads the team with 21 points, including nine goals. Centre Carter Popoff has 10 goals and 20 points in 20 games and right winger Jackson Houck has six goals and 19 points.
Jansen Harkins, who picked up his sixth goal of the season in Saturday's game against Kelowna, leads the Cougars with 23 points in 22 games. Jari Erricson leads the Cats with 11 goals and has 22 points in 21 games, while Witala ranks third on the team with 21 points in 20 games.
Payton Lee has been getting most of the work in the Giants nets and has a 3.02 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. It's a tossup as to who will get the start in the Cougars' net tonight. Former Giant Jared Rathjen had a strong outing in his first start of the season, allowing five goals on 35 shots Friday against Kelowna. Ty Edmonds started Saturday's game and was removed after giving up four goals on 13 shots, but he did not perform poorly. Also available to the Cougars is 16-year-old Tavin Grant, who blocked 15 of 17 Rockets shots in 34 minutes of game action Saturday.
With the exception of injured defenceman Marc McNulty, the Cougars are healthy heading into Tuesday's game. McNulty won't likely play at all this week while he recovers from a concussion.
On Friday the Cats pay their first regular season visit to Kamloops to play the Blazers, then head to Vancouver for another date with the Giants on Saturday.
