Do you believe in miracles?
If you're a fan of the Prince George Cougars, start praying. That's what it's going to take for them to make the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Losing 2-1 to the Victoria Royals Saturday night at CN Centre was bad enough on its own.
But the hurt ran even deeper when the Cougars learned the Tri-City Americans won 3-0 Saturday in Spokane.
The Cats now have just four games left to make up a four-point deficit on the Americans, who need just five points in their seven remaining games to clinch the last Western Conference playoff spot.
On Saturday, the Cougars played an almost perfect game taking on an oversized Royals team that ranks among the biggest in the WHL. They matched them hit for hit, threw plenty of pucks at the net and even outchanced their opponents by a wide margin. But they were just plain unlucky, and goalie Patrik Polivka was good when he had to be. Backed by a couple goalposts, he stopped 31 of 32 shots and sent the Cougars home frustrated.
Led by the Walker brothers from Edina, Minn., the opportunistic Royals overcame a 1-0 deficit with two unanswered goals in the second period -- the only offence they would need. Seventeen-year-old Jack Walker, a second-year winger, let go a 90-foot shot from the left side of centre and it skipped off the ice and fluttered in over the stick of Ty Edmonds. Probably the easiest of the six goals he's scored this season.
Six minutes later, 20-year-old Ben Walker spotted Swedish import Axel Blomqvist breaking through at full stride and zipped a perfect two-line pass that sprung Blomqvist free. He avoided the check of Sam Ruopp and lifted a high shot in past Edmonds.
Todd Fiddler did just about everything in his power to give the Cougars the win they so desperately needed. He opened the scoring in the first period with his 45th of the season, a result of some hard work from Zach Pochiro, who caught defenceman Keegan Kanzig from behind to force a turnover in the Victoria end. Jansen Harkins took the puck and fed it to Fiddler at the side of the net. That one-timer extended Fiddler's point streak to 18 games. He has 18 goals and 33 points over that stretch and now ranks fifth in the WHL scoring race with 92 points in 62 games.
The Cougars knew the score from Spokane as they caught a breather in the second intermission and played the first four minutes of the third period like there was no tomorrow. Considering the Cats' precarious playoff prospects, there really wasn't.
"Obviously we're disappointed, I thought we played well enough both nights to get points and wins, but you have to play the full pop," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "We talked about the mental errors from [Friday] night that we had to clean up on. We made two tonight and both ended up in our net. The kids played hard, you can't fault their effort. We were tight on coverage and the guys read the plays a lot better, probably the best all season and we won the majority of puck battles on the wall.
"It was a physical game, a game for men only, and I thought we deserved better."
The Cougars were better than they were in Friday's 5-3 loss to Victoria but the end result was the same. The key for Victoria was coming out of the first four minutes of the third period unscathed.
A Pochiro penalty at the end of the second period meant the Cougars were shorthanded for a full two minutes to start the third but Fiddler wasn't waiting the Royals to get set up and came within a crossbar of tying it with a terrific solo rush on the penalty kill. Not long after that, Marc McNulty nailed the post on a backhander. Then Harkins picked off a clearing attempt by Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts right in front of the net, but his low shot got stopped by an alert Polivka.
"We stole a game here tonight," said Royals head coach Dave Lowry. "We relied on our goaltending too much this weekend. They deserved better. The crossbar and the post early in the third should have allowed PG to generate some momentum but we stayed with it and found a way to get in lanes and shut it down as the game went on."
The Cougars attacked in waves and kept the puck in the Victoria end for much of the final period but struggled for space and second-chance opportunities around the net. Victoria was quite content to play with a one-goal lead, seldom sending more than one forward in deep to forecheck, and that tactic proved extremely effective.
"Our goal was to get tons of shots at their goalie tonight and [Polivka] was good," said Fiddler. "If he sees everything he's obviously going to save it and we didn't get the bounces we wanted.
"It was just a tough one tonight. It's a tough one to swallow if we don't make the playoffs but there's still a lot of fight in that dressing room."
LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars captain Troy Bourke was held off the scoresheet. He's now three points shy of the career record for points by a Cougar held by Eric Hunter. Hunter tallied 233 points in 323 games from 2002-07. Bourke now has 330 points in 271 games dating back to 2009... The Portland Winterhawks lost 4-1 Saturday in Seattle, ended their record-tying winning streak at 22 games. They now share the record with the Estevan Bruins, set in 1967-68... The Cats host the Spokane Chiefs this weekend, then finish the season with a home-and-home series with Kamloops.
