The Prince George Cougars have their work cut out for them.
Four games in five nights and two tough Western Hockey League opponents coming into CN Centre aiming to steal points away from a struggling Cougar team – it’s not going to be easy.
The Vancouver Giants are here Tuesday and Wednesday and the Cougars know what they’re all about. They played them Friday in Langley and lost 3-1. The Giants (6-2-1-0, second in the BC Division) are three points ahead of the fourth-place Cougars (5-6-0-0) and have played two fewer games than the Cats. The Giants beat Prince George 6-4 on Oct. 8 in Langley.
“They’re a physical, hard-forechecking team and they play at a high level,” said Cougars associate coach Josh Dixon. “We’ve played well against them, battles that could have gone either way, and certainly we were right there to get a point or two out of them and we’re looking for more of the same.
“We did a good job against them Friday night and had a good first period and they jumped on us with two quick goals, both broken plays, on off the rush and one in the zone, but it was right there, a trade-em type of game and it came down to an empty-net goal. We can compete with them, but they’re a team you’re going to need to compete with for 60 minutes to have that success (Tuesday) night.”
Since Friday’s game, the Giants have gotten stronger with the addition of 20-year-old defenceman Alex Cotton, a fifth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2020, acquired in a trade from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for four draft picks and 16-year-old defenceman Hunter McInnes. In a separate deal Friday the Giants acquired defenceman Evan Toth from the Calgary Hitmen.
Cotton, a native of Langley, has 33 goals, 77 assists and 110 points in 154 career WHL games and he’ll likely be used as the Giants’ power-play quarterback. He was the top-scoring defenceman in 2019-20, his draft year, 20 goals and 67 points.
With players like Cotton to watch, Cougar fans will have to chance this week to get a glimpse at some future millionaires.
The Giants now have five NHL-drafted players on their roster. Centre Justin Sourdif, who leads the team is scoring with five goals and 15 points in nine games, was picked by the Florida Panthers in the third round of the 2020 draft. Ottawa Senators 2021 second-rounder Zack Ostapchuk is playing left wing and right winger Fabian Lysell of Sweden, picked by the Boston Bruins in the first round 21st overall in ’21. The 18-year-old Lysell had two goals and nine points in eight games since he joined the Giants.
“Lysell is a high-end player, a first-round pick, and they have him on the second line,” said Dixon. “They have a lot of depth at their forward group and solid defence, and with their addition on the back end it gives them another bullet in their gun, that’s for sure.”
The Cougars will likely see 19-year-old goalie Jesper Vikman in action between the pipes. The six-foot-three Swede was a fifth-round draft pick of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2020. He sat out Friday’s game while Will Gurski faced the Cougars and recorded his first WHL victory with a 25-save outing.
The Kelowna Rockets (5-3-0-1) play in Prince George Friday and Saturday and they’ve won three of their last four to leapfrog the Cougars into third place. The teams met last Saturday in Kelowna and the Cougars fell 4-1.
Since then, the Rockets, who allowed 37 goals in their first nine games, have shored up their goaltending with the completion of a trade Sunday with the Tri-City Americans to acquire six-foot-eight, 201-pound Talyn Boyko. The 19-year-old Drumheller, Alta., native was picked by the New York Rangers in the fourth round in 2021.
After putting together a five-game winning streak in October, all wins coming against the Victoria Royals, the Cougars are looking to end a three-game slide that started Oct 30 at CN Centre with a 4-1 loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
The Cats’ power play woes continued over the weekend and they’re now 0-for-30 in their last eight games. There were some positive signs in Kelowna, where they hit a couple goalposts playing with the man advantage, but you can bet they were trying to address their special teams shortcomings Monday in practice. Through 11 games the Cats have scored just five power-play goals in 46 opportunities for a 10.9 per cent success rate that ranks last in the 22-team league. One bright spot is they’ve allowed just one shorthanded goal.
“Our power play was tops in the league in the preseason and we’ve shown that we can score goals, we’re certainly generating chances,” said Dixon.
Conversely, the Cougars’ penalty-killing has been stellar. They were leading the league in that department headed into Saturday’s game but have since dropped to second-best in the WHL. They’ve allowed just eight goals in 57 chances, an 86 per cent kill rate. Only the Everett Silvertips (87.2 per cent) have been better.
Sophomore centre Riley Heidt, 16, continues to lead the Cougars in scoring with four goals and eight assists for 12 points. He’s the only Cougar averaging a point or better per game. Craig Armstrong (4-5-9) and Hudson Thornton (2-7-9) are next on the Cougar scoring list, just ahead of Jonny Hooker (5-3-8) and Viliam Kmec (0-8-8).
The other good news for the Cougars is they’re healthy, with nobody sidelined from Tuesday’s game due to injury. Game time is 7 p.m.
