The Seattle Thunderbirds are angry birds right now.
The Calgary Hitmen were the latest WHL team to ruffle the T-birds' feathers, playing extremely ungracious hosts Sunday night in Calgary as the Hitmen bombed Seattle 10-2 to extend that squad's losing streak to five games.
The Prince George Cougars are hoping that trend will continue. They host the T-birds tonight and Wednesday at CN Centre and would love nothing better than to extend the misery of a Seattle team that lost 7-0 Saturday in Edmonton and 5-1 Friday in Red Deer.
"They're having a tough trip right now in Alberta so we'll get a pissed-off team for sure," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick.
"They're a big team and to me they play as close to a pro game as anyone in the league. They come at you north-south, they've got size and skill, their back end is very active so they do a lot of good things. Hopefully we'll get a few guys that get off the injured list and we'll have a full team for [tonight]."
Defenceman Shea Theodore, 18, a first-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2013 (26th overall), leads the T-birds in scoring with 45 points, including 14 goals, while right winger Branden Troock (a Dallas Stars' fifth-rounder in 2013) has 20 goals and 44 points in 39 games. Seattle will also be bringing Prince George minor hockey product Mitch Ellot, who has two goals and four points in 35 games.
The ninth-place Cougars (16-21-2-3), who swept Kamloops in a two-game weekend series, need as many points as possible to get back into a playoff position. Seattle (22-14-2-3) is currently tied with the Vancouver Giants for sixth in the West, 12 points ahead of the Cougars.
The availability of forwards Alex Forsberg (upper-body) and Brett Roulston (broken foot) is questionable for the Seattle series, but there's a good chance Chase Witala (lower-body) will play. The Cougars will welcome the return of forwards Jansen Harkins and Brad Morrison, both silver medalists at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, and defenceman Tate Olson, who played for Team West at the same tournament.
"Witala is day-to-day and Roulston started skating by himself [Saturday] and we'll give him a test or two and see how he responds," said Holick. "Conditioning will be an issue for him and we're not going to force him into a game, but we've got to get that size and physicality back into our lineup."
Forwards Jari Erricson (concussion), David Soltes (knee), defenceman Peter Kosterman (broken jaw) and goalie Brett Zarowny (groin) are on longterm injury leaves and won't play this week.
While Ty Edmonds redeemed himself with a solid outing in Saturday's 3-1 win over Kamloops, the rookie from Winnipeg did not look sharp in the late stages of Friday's 9-5 victory over the Blazers and didn't give the Cougars what they needed to win on the road in Victoria and Vancouver two weekends ago.
Like all teams in the league, the Cougars will have some big decisions to make over the next few days with the WHL trade deadline looming this Thursday. Don't be surprised if the Cougars make a move to acquire a goaltender.
"I don't think it's fair to have Ty running 20 or 30 starts in a row here at 17 years old," said Holick.
"I know Dallas [Cougars GM Thompson] is on the phone trying to find a reinforcement here and there because it looks like [Zarowny] is going to be a bit more long-term than we thought."
Game time tonight is 7 p.m.
