The sweep is complete.
The Prince George Cougars became the first WHL team to advance into the second round of the playoffs after they defeated the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 Wednesday night at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena to win the Western Conference quarterfinal series 4-0.
It was nailbiter finish but Ty Young stood strong in the Prince George net, blocking everything the Chiefs fired his way as they pressed for the equalizer with their goalie on the bench.
Zac Funk’s power-play goal in the second period was the eventual series winner.
“We knew they were going to give a good push, you’re never winning until you win the fourth game,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb.
“I’m really proud of the guys with how we competed and how we closed this in four.”
After their travel day the Cougars will have a full week off to prepare for Round 2.
“We need rest and practice, rest is a weapon,” said Lamb. “Another thing is it gives you mental rest. Playoff hockey is high stress, high intensity and it’s nice for the guys not having to worry about playing a game Friday and we can really prepare and learn from this series.
“We’ll take some time and do some pre-scouting and get ready for that next game.”
Young made 30 saves in his first game action of the playoffs aside from the first Spokane goal the Vancouver Canucks prospect looked sharp throughout the game.
“We have two really good goalies and it doesn’t matter who’s playing, we expect Ty to go in there and win hockey games for us,” said Lamb. “Ty’s played well for us this year, (Joshua Ravensbergen) has played well for us, and we’re going to need everybody. We’ve got some extra guys here we’re probably going to need if we go on a long run.”
The Cougars outscored the Chiefs 20-9 in the series.
Strong forechecking from the Cougars third line led to the go-ahead goal midway through the game. Oren Shtrom stripped the puck away from the Chiefs’ defence behind the net and spotted Koehn Ziemmer standing in the slot unguarded and Ziemmer whacked it in. It was his first goal since Nov. 24. The Los Angeles Kings draft pick missed nearly four months with a broken ankle.
“He’s missed a lot of hockey and everyone’s up to speed right now and that’s what we’re trying to do with him, get him up to speed,” said Lamb. “You give Ziemmer the puck there and he knows what to do with it.”
His goal came just after the Chiefs had one waived off when the referee lost sight of the puck after it got caught in the legs of Young and squirted loose in the crease and was batted in Conner Roulette, but it didn’t count.
Less than a minute after Ziemmer’s goal, the Cougars cashed in a power-play chance to make it a 3-1 game. Funk was left open just outside the crease and had an open net after some slick passing between Riley Heidt and Terik Parascak.
It was the Cougars seventh goal in 21 power-play opportunities in the series - a 33 per cent success rate.
The Chiefs got one back on a rebound a couple minutes after Funk scored. Roulette was in the right spot to hammer in the carom of a Berkly Catton shot that Young kicked out to the side. The 20-year-old Roulette also scored the goal that knotted the score 1-1 early in the second period.
Slovakian defenceman Viliam Kmec gave the Cougars the lead 10 minutes in, connecting on a point shot that appeared to tick off a Chief just enough to change the path of the puck and it got through the legs of Dawson Cowan, making his third start of the playoffs.
As good as he was at holding down the fort, Young got plenty of help from his shot-blocking defenceman and Bauer Dumanski particularly stood out, fearlessly getting his body into the shooting lanes.
“I think Dumer has really come a long way this whole year; you have to have different guys, different games play better when some guys don’t have their game, he’s been doing it all year,” said Lamb.
“Every time someone lifts their leg up to take a shot Dumer’s sticking his leg in front of it. I don’t know how many he blocked but he’s been doing it. He’s probably the best shot blocker on our team.”
The 19-year-old Lockwood, Sask., native got his skate blade in the way of what looked like a sure-goal from Catton five minutes into the second when it was still a tie game.
The Cougars did a number on Catton throughout the series, limiting the Chiefs’ top scorer to just four assists after a 54-goal, 116-point season. He got two of those assists Wednesday.
As good as their power play was, the Cougars’ penalty killing was superb in the series, allowing just one goal in the 16 times they played shorthanded.
“Special teams win and lose you hockey games and if you win the special teams battle you have a good chance to win,” said Lamb. “You look at our special teams all year and it’s just a carryover.”
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars had not swept a series since 2007, when Devin Setoguchi’s overtime goal in Game 4 ended it… Ten seconds after the opening puck drop the game was delayed for about 10 minutes when Cougars head coach Mark Lamb questioned the Chiefs’ lineup card, which showed forward Rasmus Ekstrom as a game-time decision, but did not include a second player as a possible starter, as the rules specify. The Chiefs elected to scratch Prince George product Chase Harrington, who did not have the game-time-decision designation… Becher extended his point streak to 23 games. He has 16 goals, 32 assists and 42 points over that stretch. Funk (18-22-40) has points in 18 straight… The Cougars won’t know who they play in the second round until the other opening-round series is complete. As conference champions they will play the lowest remaining seed in the Western Conference semifinals, which start at CN Centre on Friday, April 12… Tickets for the second round will go on sale Thursday at 11 a.m. at the CN Centre box office or through the Tickets North website.
WHL Western Conference quarterfinal
Prince George Cougars vs. Spokane Chiefs
Cougars win best-of-seven series 4-0
Game 4
Wednesday summary
Cougars 3 at Chiefs 2
First Period
1. Prince George, Kmec 2 (Parascak, Becher) 10:13
Penalties – Heidt PG (elbowing) 7:55, Feist Spo (hooking) 16:55.
Second Period
2. Spokane, Roulette 2 (Catton, Crampton) 1:36
3. Prince George, Ziemmer 1 (Shtrom) 9:55
4. Prince George, Funk 3 (Parascak, Kmec) 11:27 (pp)
5. Spokane, Roulette 3 (Catton, Weinstein) 13:10
Penalties – Foster PG (fighting) Parr Spo (fighting) 3:10, Weinstein Spo (high-sticking) 9:48, Dumanski PG (holding) 14:49, Bonni Spo (interference) 16:55.
Third Period
No scoring.
Penalty – Funk PG (hooking) 7:16
Shots on goal by
Prince George 11 14 6 -31
Spokane 8 14 9 -32
Goal – Prince George, Young (W,1-0); Spokane, Cowan (L,0-3)
Power plays – PG: 1-3; Spo: 0-3.
Referees – Jackson Kozari, Jarrod Lucoe; Linesmen – Rance Hughes, Mark McGowan.
Attendance – 3,434.
