The Prince George Cougars will be missing one of their big guns when they start shooting bullets this weekend at the Victoria Royals.
Right winger Chase Witala, their second-leading scorer, will be watching tonight's and Saturday's games from the press box while he serves a two-game suspension as further punishment for a match penalty he received in last Sunday's game against Kamloops. Witala took exception to a late hit from Blazers defenceman Patrik Maier and nailed him with a head-level cross-check 13 minutes into the first period and was handed a game misconduct.
Playing on the top line with Chance Braid and Jari Erricson, Witala, 19, was producing at a point-per-game pace, with eight goals and 10 assists. His absence this weekend should create more icetime for Slovakian import David Soltes, a healthy scratch for Sunday's game.
The Cougars (9-8-0-0) are coming off a weekend home-ice sweep of the Blazers, having defeated their divisional rivals 4-1 Saturday and 3-2 in a shootout Sunday to move into a three-way tie for second spot in the B.C. Division. Prince George, Victoria and Kamloops all have 20 points, so the outcome of the Cougars' two games against the Royals (9-8-2-0) this weekend could have a profound impact on the standings.
Royals forward Brandon McGee has four goals and eight assists in seven games since his return from a 12-game suspension to start the season for an illegal hit on Portland's Nic Petan during the playoffs. The Royals were also fined $10,000 as a result of their team's undisciplined play in that game. Magee was the lone Victoria goalscorer in Wednesday's 5-1 loss to the top-ranked Kelowna Rockets in Kelowna.
Magee plays on the Royals' top line with 20-year-old Calgary Flames prospect Austin Carroll, a six-foot-three, 215-pound Arizona native, and six-foot-six Axel Blomqvist, 19, a candidate for Sweden's world junior team.
The Royals defence revolves around 18-year-old Joe Hicketts, who signed a three-year entry level contract this past summer with the Detroit Red Wings. He has five goals and 21 points in 17 games.
The Dave Lowry-coached Royals also have on the blueline Travis Brown, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect who already has six goals this season, as well as 18-year-old Quesnel minor hockey product Ryan Gagnon and six-foot-three, 215-pound 17-year-old Chaz Reddekopp.
In net, 19-year-old Coleman Vollrath has started 18 of Victoria's 19 games and has a 3.35 goals-against average and .889 save percentage.
"They have size and structure and when they stick to their structure they're a good team," said Cougars coach Mark Holick. "I think we match up well against them. They bring a physical game and we've showed we can play that type of game if we want. They have some depth and I think their goaltending, other than [Wednesday] night, has been OK."
The Cougars' efforts in practice to improve their woeful special teams appeared to pay dividends in the series with the Blazers. Although their power play failed to connect in the three chances they were afforded in the two games, the bottom-rung Cougars' penalty kill did not allow a goal in five chances, including Witala's five-minute major.
"We're doing some good things on the power play, we're spending time in the zone, we're getting shot attempts and we're getting shots through," said Holick. "I think it's a matter of time before we start producing regularly.
"I liked our penalty kill all weekend. We changed a couple things on it and we're trying to be more aggressive on it blocking shots. At the end of the day, your goalie is your best penalty killer and I thought [Ty Edmonds] had a good weekend."
Holick confirmed Edmonds will get the start in net tonight (7 p.m. start). The coach will determine after the game whether former Royal Jared Rathjen, 20, who joined the Cougars last week on waivers from Medicine Hat, will get to start the rematch Saturday night.
