With fingers crossed the Prince George Cougars left for Kamloops on Thursday determined to doing something no other WHL team had done this season.
The Cougars (7-7-1) will have their first opportunity to take on the top team in Canada, the Kamloops Blazers (16-0-0-1), tonight, 7 p.m. But, before the Cats get their shot to deliver a regulation blemish to the Blazers, the Kelowna Rockets will have a chance Thursday night.
Cougars forward Jari Erricson said he'll be rooting for the Blazers on Thursday night.
"It would be kind of nice to see them continue with their win streak and be able to knock them off and end that streak for them," said Erricson. "I think we have the team that can do that and now we've got the confidence.
The Cougars have produced back-to-back wins since ending a six-game losing skid and have played more responsibly in their own end then they were in a few early season contests that saw the scoreboard lit up on both sides.
"We were pretty offensive minded at the beginning of the season scoring lots of goals and we've really bought into [coach Dean Clark's] system here with the defensive mindset," said Erricson. "We're trying to keep the puck out of our net the best we can and, I think we've done a good job of that the last three games," added the 18-year-old. "The goals will come because we have the offensive ability but the defensive game is what we need to work on."
Other then a disastrous third period against the Spokane Chiefs where the Cougars allowed five goals to lose 6-1, they've outplayed their rivals beating the Chiefs in the second half of the doubleheader before edging the Brandon Wheat Kings, and red-hot goalie Curtis Honey, 3-2 in a shootout.
Clark said now that the team's defensive woes have improved it's time to try and get a modified version of their offensive game back. During the Cougar's losing skid they were shutout twice.
"I'd like to get some more balanced scoring and get the guys going here again and if we can get that it'll certainly help the cause," said Clark.
The team's top line of Troy Bourke, Alex Forsberg and Chase Witala buzzed the net all night against Brandon but couldn't light the lamp.
If all his players played Erricson's style Clark would be satisfied.
"Jari is he's a real responsible player and he's really great on the back-check, which we've asked our forwards to do, so he's a good leader that way," said Clark. "He's been contributing some points here and there and scoring some goals as well."
Both Clark and Erricson were willing to give credit to the Blazers for their unbeaten starts - a shootout loss to the Victoria Royals was the only imperfection before Thursday - but weren't willing to anoint their closest western rival the Memorial Cup yet.
"You've got to give them credit for what they've done so far, obviously they've found a way to be successful on every given night," said Clark. "They're a good, good team, I think there's other teams that have come together here a little bit and, I think they'll be other teams that come together in the second half that end up being better."
Tonight will be the first of eight regular season meetings between the Highway 97 rivals this season. On their last trip to Kamloops, the Cougars took a 3-0 advantage into the final 20 minutes of the preseason game, but learned what many teams have discovered when the Blazers are around - no lead is safe. The Cougars lost 4-3 in a shootout.
The Blazers earned three consecutive WHL player of the week honours, twice for JC Lipon (40 points) followed by honours for Colin Smith (39 points). Lipon was WHL player of the month for October.
"I think they're proud of some of the things they've accomplished and they'll be tough throughout the year, whether they end up being the best remains to be seen but they're certainly a formidable challenge," said Clark.
After their face off with the Blazers, the Cougars head to Kelowna where they'll get another shot at beating goalie Jordan Cooke and the Rockets (8-6-1).
