The Prince George Cougars wanted the Kelowna Rockets.
They got them. That doesn't mean beating the Rockets in a first-round Western Hockey League playoff series is going to be easy.
This regular season, the Rockets won six of their nine games against the Cougars and outscored the Cats 33-24.
But, given the prospect of playing either the Portland Winterhawks or Spokane Chiefs in the Western Conference quarterfinals, the Cougars were hoping to see the Rockets instead. In games against the Winterhawks during the regular schedule, Prince George went 0-4. The Cats had the same mark of futility against the Chiefs.
"We did win a couple games against Kelowna so I'm sure it gives us a little bit more confidence," said Cougars head coach Dean Clark, whose team won four of its last five regular-season games, finished seventh in the conference, and earned a date with the second-place Rockets. "Obviously they're a good team -- they won our division -- so we're going to have to be ready to go.
"We have to play a team game and be on the right side of the pucks and just do a lot of the little things right the majority of the time."
Game 1 in the best-of-seven series is Friday night at Kelowna's Prospera Place. Game 2 is Saturday, also at Prospera. The series will head north for Tuesday and Wednesday tilts in Prince George (7 p.m., CN Centre).
This season, the B.C. Division-leading Rockets finished at 43-28-0-1. The Cats, fourth in the division, came in at 33-35-2-2. Heading into the playoff series, however, the Cougars may have some momentum on their side. In their last two games against the Rockets, Feb. 4-5 at CN Centre, they earned 4-2 and 3-0 victories.
"I'm looking forward to [the series]," said Prince George forward Charles Inglis. "We match up well against them. They've played some good games against us and we've played some great ones against them. Last time they were here we actually swept them and that was one of the two teams we swept this year. I think it's going to be a nice, hard-working, long series. Kelowna's a great team and they have great goaltending."
Ah yes, goaltending. The Rockets will have team MVP Adam Brown in their cage. In 60 appearances this season, Brown posted a record of 36-22-0-1. His goals-against average of 2.59 was fifth-best in the entire league and his save percentage of .916 tied him for third.
As for the Cougars, they'll lean on Ty Rimmer, who had a 20-22-0-2 record as a WHL rookie. Rimmer, an Edmonton native who turned 19 on Wednesday, was heroic in a 3-2 shootout win against the Kamloops Blazers last Friday night and was the winning goalie again on Saturday when the Cats capped the season with a 5-1 home-ice victory against Kamloops. Rimmer said there's a "great buzz" around the team right now.
"The guys are all high-fiving and laughing, making jokes," he said. "It's a great atmosphere and it's fun to be around. We'll be ready. We've got some work to do in their barn in Kelowna but it's going to be a good test."
Added Cougars defenceman Sena Acolatse: "We just have to play our game. We have our systems laid out for us and if we just stick to those and play hard and work hard then we should be good."
Prince George product Brett Bulmer is a member of the Rockets. Bulmer, an NHL draft pick of the Minnesota Wild, was Kelowna's sixth-leading scorer this season. In 57 games, he fired 18 goals and added 31 assists for 49 points.
