This is the final weekend of the Western Hockey League season and in the Western Conference only the top five teams in the Western Conference are guaranteed playoff spots.
The Prince George Cougars are still in the mix for the postseason dance, along with the Vancouver Giants and Spokane Chiefs, with the Victoria Royals on the outside looking in. All four teams are down to their last two games this weekend.
The Giants (24-38-4-0) are currently sixth in the West with 52 points, one point ahead of seventh-place Spokane and eighth-place Prince George, who share identical 24-38-4-1 records. The Royals (22-38-5-1) are just one point behind Spokane/Prince George, having fallen out of a playoff position into ninth place Sunday afternoon when they lost 2-1 to the Cougars at CN Centre.
That win, in front of one of the biggest crowds of the season, certainly lightened the mood around Cougarville and the Cats know they can control their own destiny, but that will not be easy. They play the red-hot Kamloops Blazers Friday in Kamloops, then head to Kelowna to finish out their schedule against the Rockets.
“It’s basically do or die,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “We’ve been in this situation for a long time now. When you win a big game like that it’s real exciting and we have won a few of them this year. That’s why we are in the position we are this weekend.”
The Cougars will be watching their phones for results from the other conference matchups that will decide playoff positions. Spokane is at Victoria for games Friday and Saturday, Vancouver plays in Kelowna Friday and visits Kamloops on Saturday.
The Blazers still have a shot at first overall in the Western Conference. The are three points behind the first-place Everett Silvertips, who have road games left in Portland on Friday and Tri-City on Saturday. Portland, sitting third, could leapfrog the Blazers for second place but the Winterhawks have just that one game left.
The Cougars (3-5-2-0 in the last 10 games) were much improved the last time they faced the Blazers – a 4-3 overtime loss at CN Centre April 3 – compared to the teams’ most recent encounter on Kamloops ice, March 30, when the Blazers stomped Prince George 8-2.
“They’re so deep and a lot of things have to go right,” said Lamb. “You have to play your systems and limit their chances, but they are going to get their chances. There’s no special secret to beating them.”
One thing the Cougars do have going for them is Tyler Brennan will be available to play. The 18-year-old from Winnipeg, ranked by NHL Central Scouting as the top North American goalie available for the 2022 draft, missed three games with an upper-body injury. Lamb has not yet named his starter for the Kamloops game but if Brennan is up to the task, expect him to get the call. Ty Young, a 17-year-old rookie, played well in his absence, allowing the Cougars to gain four out of a possible six points in those three games with a win and two overtime losses.
“Ty has got us here,” said Lamb. “We don’t know who’s going to play yet.”
The Cougars will be without RW Blake Eastman, still out week to week with a knee injury. They’ve called up 16-year-old defenceman Tyson Buczkowski from the Saskatoon Contacts triple-A midget team. He finished the season with four goals and four assists in seven playoff games, after scoring eight goals and 32 points in 42 regular season games. Buczkowski was a first-round draft pick of the Cougars in 2021, picked 15th overall.
The Cats have four other prospects practicing with the team, including goalie Madden Mulawka, defenceman Ephram McNutt, and forwards Gavin Schmidt and Zackary Shantz.
The Blazers have three players on the injured list – F Luke Toporowski (lower body, day-to day), D Marco Stacha (upper body, indefinite), and F Ethan Rowland (upper body, day-to-day).
In the WHL’s Eastern Conference, four teams are still in the hunt for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Swift Current Broncos (26-35-5-2) are currently eighth with 59 points, one point ahead of the ninth-place Calgary Hitmen and two in front of the 10th-place Regina Pats and 11th-place Prince Albert Raiders. The Broncos and Hitmen each have just one game left, Regina has three games to play and the Raiders are down to their last two. Sixth-place Brandon still has a shot at catching Saskatoon for fifth place.
“It’s going to come down to one final weekend and there could be a tiebreaker on both sides,” said Lamb, referring to the tight logjams in each conference.
