It was a crushing loss, one in which the Prince George Cougars looked nothing like a playoff team.
If they continue to play the same way, they won't have to worry about making post-season plans anyway.
Tuesday night at CN Centre, the spiritless Cats were blasted 7-0 by the Red Deer Rebels, one of the elite teams in the Western Hockey League. The Rebels were led by Byron Froese's four-goal outburst and also got markers from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Andrej Kudrna and John Persson.
Meanwhile, Red Deer goaltender Darcy Kuemper -- statistically the top stopper in the league -- picked up his 12th shutout.
Froese, a draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, now has 40 goals on the season. Nugent-Hopkins -- expected to be picked early in the first round of the 2011 NHL entry draft -- had a four-point night and is now up to 94 on the year.
The opportunistic Rebels outworked the home team all night and were fully deserving of the lopsided victory. They led 2-0 after the first period and blew the game open with four goals in the second. The Rebels outshot the Cougars 36-25.
Red Deer, second to the Saskatoon Blades in the Eastern Conference, improved its record to 44-16-3-4. Prince George dropped to 29-34-2-2.
The night wasn't as bad as it could have been for the Cats, because the Kamloops Blazers lost 5-4 to the Tri-City Americans in Kamloops. The results in Prince George and Kamloops kept the Cougars in the eighth and final playoff spot. The teams are tied with 62 points but the Blazers (29-35-3-1) have played one extra game.
Prince George product Dylan Willick had a goal and an assist for the Blazers. Willick now has 24 goals and 44 points this season.
The Cougars have just five regular-season outings remaining. They will end the schedule with a home-and-home series against the Blazers, March 18 in Kamloops and March 19 at CN Centre.
Next up for the Cougars are weekend games in Vancouver, Seattle and Tri-City.
Attendance on Tuesday night was announced at 2,050.
