When the Prince George Cougars got their first look at the 2013-14 WHL schedule, nobody figured this weekend's home-and-home series with the Kamloops Blazers would provide the final stamp on the season.
A team with realistic expectations of finishing as a mid-pack playoff team is again giving the postseason a miss. The Cougars will finish ninth out of 10 teams in the Western Conference with the fourth-worst record in the 22-team league, and nothing that happens on the ice tonight in Kamloops and Saturday at CN Centre will change that.
As hard as that is to swallow for Cougars head coach Mark Holick, there's nothing he can do to reverse the hex that's kept the team out of the playoffs the past three seasons. Holick has only been around since the midway point of the 2012-13 season but he's as sick of losing as any of the Cougar fans wondering if success will ever return to the beleaguered franchise, still looking for its first banner after 20 mostly lean seasons in Prince George.
"We had plenty of opportunities to get those points and if you look back on our season there were a lot of games that got away on us," said Holick. "I think if we had stayed healthy that gives us a chance. Its not an excuse but it's fact. We missed four top-six forwards for half our year and there were some games where we were losing by a goal, so those guys make a difference."
First to fall was 19-year-old winger Jari Erricson, who got into a fight and got rocked by a punch on the chin in the third game and his concussion forced him to miss the rest of the season. Then highly-touted import centre David Soltes hurt his knee 15 games into his WHL career and was carted off on the next plane to Slovakia.
Just after Christmas, winger Chase Witala hurt his back, taking him out of action for a third of the season, which ruined what easily could been a 30-goal season for the Prince George native. A concussion limited talented centre Alex Forsberg to just 44 games.
On defence, Joseph Carvalho and Peter Kosterman both broke their jaws and goalie Brett Zarowny played just 17 games in a season spoiled by a groin injury. It took the Cats until January to find a replacement for Zarowny and by that time 17-year-old Ty Edmonds had played 18 straight games in goal, way too much weight to rest on the shoulders of the Cougars' top rookie.
"I expected more too," said Holick, who still has two seasons on his contract. "I thought with a healthy group the whole way we had a lot of depth and could afford to bring along the younger guys a bit slower, but the young guys got thrown right into the fire. All three 16s (Jansen Harkins, Brad Morrison and Tate Olson) played a ton and when Zarowny went down, we had to rely on Edmonds for 18 straight starts and he's a young kid."
Only Saskatoon and Lethbidge have given up more goals than the Cougars this season and that has a lot to do with their inexperienced blueliners trying to take on roles that should been filled by veterans.
"As an example, [rookie] Sam Ruopp was playing with [Marc] McNulty most of the time this year playing against top-six forwards all day long," said Holick. "We had guys struggle on the back end, which forced [Ruopp] to play some sizable minutes he wasn't ready for against players he wasn't ready for. You have to be delicate with how you handle these young guys but with our injuries we had no choice."
The acquisition of left winger Todd Fiddler in a trade from Moose Jaw 14 games into the season for a conditional fifth-rounder ranks among the most lopsided deals in WHL history and GM Dallas Thompson has to be commended for orchestrating that deal, assuming he didn't include the family farm in Lloydminster as part of those undisclosed conditions.
Fiddler, the team MVP, has 46 goals and 93 points in 64 games. Without him, it's doubtful the Cougars would have remained a playoff possibility heading into the last week of the season. Fiddler and his big shot will likely catch on with a pro team this spring and he just might get a shot playoffs after all. Don't be surprised if he gets four more goals this weekend to reach the 50 mark.
"He certainly made a lot of guys better around him," said Holick. "I don't think Klarc Wilson would have had the year he had [26 goals 59 points in 70 games] if he didn't play with Fidds since he got here and [Zach] Pochiro the same thing. [Fiddler] was guy we counted on and I was glad he was in our group this year."
Captain Troy Bourke has been the leader the Cougars hoped he'd be and will try this weekend to add to his season-high 27 goals and 80 points. He now has 231 career points, just two points shy of Eric Hunter's all-time Cougar record of 233.
With the Cougars apparently sold to a group that includes local businessman Greg Pocock and NHL players Eric Brewer and Dan Hamhuis, both former Cougars, Holick wasn't about to comment on the ownership situation. If and when that happens, he's hopeful more fans will flock to a team that ranks dead-last in the WHL in attendance, averaging 1,689 paying customers per game at CN Centre.
"The fans I run into in town and around the rink have every right to be sour and frustrated but they are supportive and there's nothing more personally I'd like to do more than provide them with a winning hockey club," said Holick.
"It would be nice to get a lot more people into this building and they want to come and see a winner. We worked hard for the most part every night and we want to make sure we win more than we lose. I like Prince George as a hockey town, but you have to win some games, you gotta have a good home record and you have to provide that entertainment so people will pay to watch."
The Cougars (26-36-3-5) have five more wins, seven fewer losses and 10 points than they did a year ago, with a chance to pick up two more wins this weekend against the last-overall Blazers (13-52-2-3).
