It's been four long years, but the Prince George Cougars finally get the chance to host at least a couple playoff games.
That would be Game 3 tonight (7 p.m., CN Centre) and Game 4 Thursday night (7 p.m.) as the Cougars face off against the Victoria Royals in their WHL B.C. Division semifinal playoff series.
The Cats trail the Royals 2-0 in the best-of-seven series after they suffered a 5-3 loss in Game 1 and a 5-4 loss in Game 2 in Victoria on the weekend.
But now the series has switched to Prince George where the Cats hope to feed off the energy of the crowd.
The team has asked fans to wear white or bring white towels for a full white-out effect at CN Centre to give the players a boost.
"There's a buzz around town and everybody is excited to get going," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "The guys play well in front of a crowd when there's a lot of people."
On the ice in Victoria, the Cougars had a 2-0 lead in the second period of Game 1, but the Royals answered with a four-goal outburst. Cougars right-winger Kody McDonald narrowed the lead to one and the Cats tried their best to score the equalizer with an extra attacker and the net empty, but Victoria put the game away with an empty-netter.
In Game 2, the Cougars twice erased a pair of two-goal deficits to tie the game and again fought to score the winner, but 21-year-old Victoria forward Brandon Magee scored the go-ahead goal with under five minutes left in the game.
Holick said defensively the team has to be better at home.
"Our breakdowns were big and the missed assignments put our goaltender (Ty Edmonds) into a situation where he had to make some highlight-reel saves," said Holick. "In Game 1, we deserved better and in Game 2 we battled back on them twice. The breakdowns were uncharacteristic of our play that's been so good the last 10 to 15 games. But we've worked on our assignments and reads in practice.
"We feel pretty good about it (going into tonight)."
The Cougars special-teams play on the road was stellar and they'll have to continue that trend at home.
In Victoria, they scored five times on 10 power-play opportunities (50 per cent) and were a sparkling 75 per cent on Friday, going three-for-four.
Their penalty kill is also 100 per cent as they have not allowed the Royals to score on them in five opportunities.
Centres Aaron Macklin (concussion) and Haydn Hopkins (wrist) will remain out of the Cougars lineup.
As for Victoria, forward Magee is the hottest player. With five goals and one assist in the first two games of the series, he was a thorn in the Cougars' side.
