First the Prince George Cougars, now the Portland Winter Hawks -- the task at hand just got a lot tougher for Brett Bulmer and the Kelowna Rockets.
Round 2 of the WHL playoffs starts Thursday in Portland for the Prince George-born-and-raised Bulmer, who knows his Kelowna team will have to elevate its level of play to stop the Winterhawks, who won 50 of 72 games this season to finish as the top seed in the Western Conference.
"Portland has a physical team and they have a lot of big guys over there but we're not afraid to go against them," said Bulmer.
"It's playoffs, so you've got to go through them some time, and we're excited about the challenge. Everyone's chipping in on this team, there are a lot of guys who had goals in the [Prince George] series."
After sweeping their first-round series, the Rockets and Winterhawks will have had a week to rest before the puck drops Thursday. Kelowna ended the Cougars' season with a 4-2 win in Prince George last Wednesday, while Portland eliminated Everett by beating the Silvertips 6-2 on Thursday.
This year's Rockets team has five players -- goalie Adam Brown, defenceman Tyson Barrie, as well as forwards Spencer Main, Mitchell Callahan and Shane McColgan -- who were with the team when they won their third WHL championship in 2009. The Cougars, coming off two non-playoff seasons, had very little post-season history behind them, and that probably was a factor in the series. In Games 2 and 3, the Cougars blew two-goal leads in the third period.
"Experience is a big part of it and P.G. is a bit of younger team that doesn't have all that experience and we have a few guys who have gone on deep runs and that definitely helps," Barrie said. "I think that definitely showed a bit."
In Bulmer's rookie season last year, the Rockets advanced to the second round after a Game 7 win over Everett, then were eliminated by Tri-City in a five-game series.
"Losing in the playoffs just makes you want to win that much more the following year," Bulmer said.
The Cougars were without three of their best offensive players in Game 4, with forwards Brett Connolly, Charles Inglis and Nick Buonassisi all sitting out with injuries, and the Rockets took advantage.
"In the playoffs you're going to lose key guys and we are pretty happy about closing this out right away in four games because you never know who's coming back and what can happen if they squeeze a game out," Bulmer said.
Bulmer, drafted in the second round last year by the Minnesota Wild, played 57 regular-season games and totalled 18 goals and 31 assists for 49 points. The six-foot-three, 175-pound left winger picked up a goal and an assist in the Rockets' 7-6 win in Game 3 on Tuesday.
"It was nice to get in on the points but I just wanted to play an all-around game and help my team win," Bulmer said.
"I've watched a lot of games [at CN Centre] and to be playing in it, in a playoff atmosphere with friends and family watching, it's pretty fun to be a part of. We found a way to win and we're proud of that."
