The cracks in the Prince George Cougars' foundation started showing in January.
By then, it was far too late to patch the leaks.
The fact they were swept out of the WHL playoffs in four straight games by the Seattle Thunderbirds should not come as a total shock to Cougar followers. After all, the Thunderbirds were and still are the hottest team in the league, dating back over the last month of the season. When they ended the Cougars' season Wednesday at CN Centre, 4-3 in overtime, it was the 17th win in the last 18 games for Seattle. They haven't lost in regulation time since Feb. 20, a one-goal decision to the Everett Silvertips -- the team the T-birds' now face in the second-round of the playoffs.
"It seems a little bit more lopsided than it was -- winning those overtime games was huge, if we don't win those, it's a whole different series," said Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk.
"I was really happy with our depth. The Cougars play hard and they didn't quit, they're a good competitive hockey team. It was a tough series and we're fortunate to have the sweep."
The two teams split the season series 2-2 and T-birds captain Jerret Smith knew it would be a punishing playoff.
"They were hitting us all series and we just hit them back and played our game and tried to stay out of the chirping and talking," said Smith. "They played hard all series and they were a tough opponent for us. It was very important to wrap it up in four, it gives us a few days to rest up and get some guys healed for the next series."
Joy in Cougarville has been in short supply the past three months. Back on Dec. 20, the Cats made the CHL's honourable mention list as one of the top major junior teams in the country. Their fine season to that point, when they had a 20-10-1-1 record, gradually unraveled on them. They went on a 16-21-2-1 slide and limped into the playoffs, having lost their last five regular season games.
"We seem to have this lull after Christmas -- last year we had a bit of a lull but we rebounded and this year we didn't seem to have that," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "I'm just disappointed, I thought we could make some more headway in the playoffs. I really loved our first half and it's been boggling the mind as to what's ailing us in the second half here. We have to find a way to figure it out and continue to move forward so we can make that big push."
As bad as it now seems for the Cougars, losing all four games of the best-of-seven series, it could just as easily be tied. Lost in the shuffle is the fact two of those games required overtime to decide. The T-birds outshot the Cougars badly in the first two games in Seattle, but the Cougars pushed them into OT in Game 1, losing 3-2. Game 2 was close until Seattle scored twice in the third period, winning 4-1. The only blowout came in Game 3 on Tuesday, a 5-0 shutout.
"They're probably one of the most physical teams we've encountered this year, they finish checks well, their gap is good in the neutral zone and they all have good size -- even their smaller guys are thick," said Holick.
"But we're in overtime in Game 1 and we had three or four good chances to end it and we didn't. That's two games in overtime in a sweep, it could easily be 2-2 and we could be going down for Game 5, with Game 6 here. The only game I was unhappy with (Game 3).
"But I'll give our guys credit, with no Ruopp, no Anderson, no Gabrielle, the guys who came in and substituted did a great job. Down 2-0 in an elimination game, they could have easily taken the easy way out and they didn't. It's unfortunate the tying goal came on the (penalty kill) because our PK was excellent.
"Three of the four games we were right there. I'm proud of our guys, they competed hard and it was a tough series. There's a lot of icebags going on in our room right now, a lot of guys needed some attention."
With the exception of Game 1, the T-birds built early leads which took a lot of the pressure off.
Seattle's top four defencemen -- Ethan Bear, Jerret Smith, Jared Hauf and Turner Ottenbreit -- are all big boys who move the puck well and they did their jobs, manhandling the Cougars to clear the defensive zone, which made it a lot easier for goalie Landon Bow to do see and stop the puck. They held the Cougars to just six goals in the four games, a 1.43 per-game average, and Bow was good when he did get tested, posting a .935 save percentage while stopping 86 of the 92 shots he faced.
Ty Edmonds was a lot busier in the Cougar nets, stopping 129 of 142 shots for a .908 save rate and 3.65 goals-against average. While Edmonds did allow a couple of weak ones, he kept his team within striking distance in three of the four games. Nick McBride played 36 minutes in a relief role in Game 3, stopping 22 of 24 shots for a 3.29 average and .917 save percentage.
Among the Seattle forwards, Scott Eansor was an absolute beast in the series. Known for his defensive abilities and his speed, he killed penalties, won key faceoffs, and picked up two goals and assist. He also filled in admirably at right wing on the top line with Mathew Barzal and Nick Holowko, taking the place of Keegan Kolesar, who was suspended indefinitely for his brutal hit from behind on Cougars captain Sam Ruopp in Game 3.
Barzal had three assists in Game 4 and left no doubt he's one of the elite players in the league. Just watch the replay of Wednesday's series-winning goal to see what he did on the play, using his body and powerful stride to shield the puck along the boards until he spotted Smith on the point. Smith unloaded and Nolan Volcan got to the rebound at the side of the net to end it, 34 seconds into OT.
"They were doing whatever they could to get under (Barzal's) skin and at times crossed the line on him and he played right through it and he was a huge part of our win," said Konowalchuk. "The whole series guys were hacking, slashing and whacking him and he fought through it and showed he wasn't going to be stopped and that's a good learning experience for him."
The Barzal line was good, but so was centre Cavin Leth and his wingers Andreas Schumacher and Alexander True. They were in on all three T-birds' goals in Game 1 and had a hand in three of the five they scored in Game 3. Secondary scoring like that is money in the playoffs.
Seattle GM Russ Farwell is looking more and more like a genius for his three separate deadline deals with Swift Current to acquire the 20-year-old Bow and 19-year-olds Leth and Schumacher, all of whom excelled in the four games.
"They're depth was really good and they kept coming shift and shift, just relentless pressure pretty much," said Cougars centre Jansen Harkins. "They're a good fast physical team and we tried hard and played hard most games, it was just an unfortunate outcome for us."
Special teams weren't much of a factor. The Cougars went 3-for-18 on the power play, while Seattle struck on 2-of-16 chances with the man advantage. The Cougars also, for the most part, avoided taking dumb penalties which cost them dearly during the season as the league's most penalized team.
The Cougars can take pride in the fact they won half of their regular season games (36), just six wins shy of the Prince George franchise record for wins in a season (43), and they made the playoffs for the second-straight season. But the fact they did not get beyond the first round is a huge disappointment for a team which started out looking like they belonged in the WHL's upper echelon with the likes of Victoria, Brandon and Kelowna.
Injuries were way down this season. Much of the credit for that has to go to the Cougars full-time athletic therapist Craig Hyslop and the fact ownership allows the team to leave a day or two earlier to stay a few extra nights in hotels to make sure the players are well-rested for road games.
So what does the future hold?
The Cougars are loaded with 1997-born players, a group which includes goalie Nick McBride, defencemen Tate Olson, Shane Collins, and Luka Zorko, and forwards Harkins, Brad Morrison, Jesse Gabrielle, Brogan O'Brien, Jared Bethune and Aaron Boyd. They will play as 19-year-olds next season.
Among the 1998-born potential returning players are defencemen Josh Anderson, and Joel Lakusta, and forwards Kody McDonald, Kolby Johnson, Bartek Bison and Josh Curtis, while the 1999s are defenceman Max Martin and forwards Adam Kadlec and Justin Almeida.
It would be safe to assume Edmonds and defenceman Ruopp will be back next season as 20-year-olds, but with only three overage slots available, there won't be room for one of either forward Colby McAuley or defenceman Shaun Dosanjh.
Holick is under contract for one more season with an option to extend that another year, and as is the nature of the coaching business, he'll be under the gun to get his older team deeper into the postseason next year. Cougars GM Todd Harkins will have lots of decisions to make over the summer as the Cougars gear up for what should be their most productive season in the past decade.
