For the third straight season, the Prince George Cougars will be on the outside looking in when the Western Hockey League playoffs begin.
The Tri-City Americans made that official Tuesday night in Portland, Ore., where they forced the high-flying Portland Winterhawks to overtime before losing 3-2. The point gained for the Americans was all they needed to clinch eighth place in the Western Conference. With three games still to play they're now five points ahead of the ninth-place Cougars, who have just two regular season games left.
Some of the Cougars followed the broadcast of Tuesday's game in Portland on the internet, while others couldn't bear to tune in. Cougars winger Todd Fiddler knew it was a tall order to expect the Americans to go pointless in their last four games but that's the only hope the Cougars had. Fiddler, 20, will finish his WHL career this weekend with a home-and-home series with Kamloops.
"I was at home checking the score and I felt pretty sad there," said Fiddler. "We didn't end it the way we wanted to and make playoffs but obviously we can go out on a positive note and get two wins in our last two games."
Brendan Leipsic notched the winner for Portland 30 seconds into overtime Tuesday. Matt Dumba forced the extra period after Parker Bowles had give the Americans the lead early in the third period on a Tri-City power play. The Winterhawks outshot the Americans 49-20. Tri-City goalie Eric Comrie stopped 46 shots to set a new franchise record for saves in a single season with 1,831.
"It's definitely disappointing to be out this early," said Cougars captain Troy Bourke, 19, who has yet to win a playoff game in his four years with the Cougars. "It was our fault. We let points slip throughout the year and it cost us. Things happened and we just fell short. It was an extremely talented group but injuries killed us. We had four of our best forwards out."
As a 16-year-old, Bourke was with the Cougars in 2010-11 when the Kelowna Rockets swept them out of the first round in four games.
Cougars defenceman Peter Kosterman made the playoffs in three of his four seasons with the Calgary Hitmen before joining the Cougars just before this season started. As a 20-year-old graduating player he won't get that chance again.
"Postseason is the best time of year, it's the most fun, and unfortunately we couldn't get this group of guys to gain that experience," said Kosterman. "Having said that, for the returning players there's a really good group here, lots of skill and we just want to make sure the team is going in the right direction into this summer and into this weekend."
The Cougars (26-36-3-5) will be in Kamloops on Friday and return to CN Centre Saturday for a rematch against the last-place Blazers (now 13-51-2-3). The Cougars still have pride to play for and shouldn't have any trouble getting motivated to play their closest WHL rivals.
There are also some personal milestones on the line. Bourke is two points away from matching Eric Hunter's team record for career points (233). With 46 goals this season, Fiddler is within reach of the 50-goal mark for the first time in his four-year WHL career.
"For sure, I'd love to get that as something I'll look back and be real proud of, but obviously Kamloops isn't going to just let me get two goals in both games," said Fiddler. "Hopefully the boys will be feeding me the puck a lot."
