The Prince George Cougars would be wise to stay out of the penalty box this weekend.
They'll be shorthanded before they even step out onto the ice at CN Centre for a two-game set against the surging Vancouver Giants.
The Cougars injury list includes forwards Zach Pochiro (concussion), David Soltes (knee), and Jari Erricson (concussion), as well as defencemen Tate Olson (concussion), Raymond Grewal (ankle), and Joseph Carvalho (broken jaw), all of whom won't not play tonight.
Cougars winger Brett Roulston is questionable with an undisclosed injury and will be a game-time decision, while defenceman Marc McNulty, although not 100 per cent healthy, is expected to play.
As if that wasn't enough for the Cats to deal with, they might also be without Troy Bourke, their captain and second-leading scorer, who was handed a major kneeing penalty and game misconduct for his knee-on-knee hit on Red Deer Rebels forward Matt Bellerive last Saturday in Red Deer. The Cougars are still awaiting word on whether the WHL will suspend Bourke for that hit, which reportedly left Bellerive with knee ligament damage. Bourke played the last two nights in Alberta for Team WHL against Russia in the Subway Super Series.
"From what I hear, there's a chance he will be suspended," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick.
With so many regulars out of the lineup, opportunity knocks for the rest of the Cougars to make the most of the additional icetime they'll get this weekend. Failing that, the Cats could find themselves that much further behind the teams they have to catch before the season ends in early March.
"Some guys you have to ask a little more of," said Holick. "Nobody's feeling sorry for us and especially us. This is not a built-in excuse. We will go with basically 20 guys."
Missing some of their most valuable offensive players, that means the go-to forwards -- Chase Witala, Klarc Wilson, Alex Forsberg, Todd Fiddler, Jordan Tkatch as well as rookies Jansen Harkins and Brad Morrison are going to have to pick up the scoring slack. The Cougars would also welcome more offence from their defencemen. Aside from McNulty and the injured Carvalho and Grewal, none have shown much ability to kickstart the attack.
After a 3-9-1-1 start, the Giants have put together a 8-2-3-0 record since then as one of the hottest teams in the WHL. They've crept three points ahead of the Cougars into the eighth playoff position and hold two games in hand over the Cats.
"They're getting good goaltending [from 17-year-old Payton Lee and 19-year-old Prince George native Jared Rathjen], their defence is a little snarly and up front they have guys who can whack you around a bit and put the puck in the net," said Holick.
The Cats have been in a tailspin lately, going 3-7-0-0 in their last 10 games. One bright spot has been the play of 20-year-old left winger Todd Fiddler, acquired three weeks ago in a trade from the Moose Jaw Warriors for a conditional fifth-round draft pick. Since then, he's responded with eight goals and six assists for 14 points in nine games with the Cougars, including two five-point games. Fiddler is still not on pace to match his 42-goal output last season with Spokane, but he's delivered what the Cougars have asked of him.
"We brought him in to provide offence and he's done that ," said Holick. "But what's really impressed me is defensively he's been pretty good for us. On the penalty-kill he's been good, his stick position is always good. He's strong and he uses his body to protect the puck and to defend very well."
