Luke Harrison, the newest addition to the Prince George Cougars, has been divulging secrets about the Kamloops Blazers.
Based on what's happened to the Cougars this season in three games against the Blazers, the Cats will need all the help they can get to turn the tables on Kamloops in a two-game set tonight and Saturday at CN Centre.
The Blazers have manhandled the Cougars in three games in Kamloops the past month, outscoring the Cats 20-4, including a 9-1 thrashing a week ago Sunday. Harrison, a 20-year-old right winger acquired in a trade Wednesday from the Brandon Wheat Kings, started the season with the Blazers. He played the two previous seasons in Kamloops and knows what makes the Blazers tick.
"I've played Kamloops a couple times this season with Brandon and Spokane so far and after a long losing streak there they've been playing well lately," said Harrison.
"They're a fast team, they move the puck well, and they have a lot of talented players like Collin Shirley, who can put the puck in the net. But I feel with the home record P.G. has we can jump on them quickly. We kind of play a similar style of systems. I know each one of them, they're good buddies, and it will be fun to battle hard against them."
Harrison, a native of West Kelowna, arrived late Wednesday night from Brandon and had just one day to practice with his new teammates. He'll be playing tonight on a line with Kody McDonald and Brad Morrison.
The Cougars are Harrison's fourth WHL team this season. He began his WHL career in Chilliwack with the Bruins, the team which drafted him in the third round of the 2010 bantam draft, and he moved with the team to Victoria, where he played two seasons with the Royals before he was traded to Kamloops in November 2013. After four games this season the Blazers released him and he went to Spokane and played seven games with the Chiefs. When Adam Helewka returned from the AHL the Chiefs traded Harrison to Brandon, leading to a six-game stint with the Wheat Kings which ended when Tim McGauley (who had 105 points for the Wheaties last year) returned from injury.
The six-foot-one, 204-pound Harrison has 196 regular-season games in the league and has 21 goals 34 points and 125 penalty minutes over that span. He had 12 goals and 23 points in 69 games last season with the Blazers.
"It's been tough traveling, but I've been liking it here so far - the guys are great, the coaching staff is awesome, I can't say enough good things," said Harrison. "There's a strong (1997-born) group here, lots of skilled forwards on the first two lines and I feel I can provide a strong gritty game and leadership out there. I like to use my speed and take pucks to the net and play the body. I've been playing in the league since I was 16 and have a lot of experience and I'm happy to be in P.G."
The Blazers (10-8-3-0) are one of the hottest teams in the WHL. After losing their first six games they have points in each of their past 10 games on a 7-0-3-0 run. They're just two points behind the Cougars (12-9-1-0) with a game in hand over the Cats, who went 6-3-1-0 in their 10 most recent games.
"We're both going to be well-rested," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "They haven't had a game this week and we haven't had a game this week, and we're not worried about what has happened. We've been going pretty good since (the latest loss in Kamloops).
"They're coming up here and they're going to be confident for sure. (Blazers head coach Don Hay) has done a good job and they work hard and compete. (Goalie Connor) Ingram has been outstanding for them and gives them a chance every night and we'll see him both nights and we have to have our A-game ready."
The Cougars' power play has been good at home (25.5 per cent, eighth in the WHL) but bleak on the road (8.3 per cent, 19th out of 22 teams) and that has especially hurt them in Kamloops. The Cougars were just 1-for-10 with the man advantage in the three games in Blazerville, while Kamloops went 4-for-13.
"Their power play is 30 per cent against us, and that's a difference-maker," said Holick.
The Cougars' penalty killing was perfect in Medicine Hat (9-for-9) and is much improved since the first month of the season, now ranked ninth in the WHL with an 81.7 per cent success rate. The Blazers have been even better on the PK, siting third overall at 84.4 per cent.
The Cougars, winners of five straight at home, lost the first two games of their last road trip in Kamloops and Calgary, but rebounded with wins in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.
Cougars winger Colby McAuley, appointed as an assistant captain last week, is confident his team will finally figure out how to beat the Blazers this weekend.
"It obviously hasn't gone well for us in the three games in Kamloops but here at home we've been pretty strong and I think we'll take it to 'em," said McAuley. "They're big, that's for sure, but we're a lot faster than them and we just have to use that to our advantage against their D. The forwards have to know what their role is and take pucks to the net."
McAuley, 19, who stands six feet and weighs 183 pounds, knows his role as an agitator and he'll be trying to improve on his two-goal, seven-point totals this weekend playing the right side on a line with centre Jansen Harkins and Jared Bethune. Tonight will be their third game together as linemates.
"We just see each other well and we've just noticed in practice that we play good together and when we get mixed and matched with lines we tend to score every time we play together and I guess the coaches saw that we have good chemistry," said McAuley.
LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars F Jordan Ross has left the team and is requesting a trade. In 13 games this season, the 19-year-old from Kronau, Sask., had one goal... D Dallas Valentine (lower-body, day-to-day) is the only injured Blazer. The Cougars have a few bodies on the shelf, including D Sam Ruopp (upper-body, day-to-day), D Shaun Dosanjh (upper body, day-to-day) and D Max Martin (shoulder surgery, three months). G Ty Edmonds (hamstring) and D Josh Anderson (eye injury) are back in the lineup. Holick said Edmonds will back up Nick McBride in the nets tonight.
