Sports fans are a superstitious lot but the Prince George Cougars are on such a roll right now, they should be able to brush away any superstition attached to a newspaper editorial declaring this team a playoff contender in just the second week of December.
There was a time not so long ago when the only thing hot at CN Centre on Cougars game nights was the coffee. Now the home team is riding a seven-game win streak and are undefeated in regulation in nine straight CN Centre games. Both of those streaks are currently the best in the entire Western Hockey League.
They will try to keep the win streak alive with road games against Portland and Seattle on Sunday and Tuesday of next week and the success at CN Centre going when they host the Victoria Royals on back-to-back nights next Friday and Saturday.
The junior hockey world is sitting up and taking notice that the reward for the long bus trip to Prince George is no longer guaranteed wins witnessed by a handful of irate fans.
Nearly halfway into their 72-game regular season campaign, the Cougars boast a record of 18 wins, nine losses, one overtime loss and one shootout loss. It has been 16 years since Prince George cheered for a Cougars team that finished with twice as many wins as losses. Dan Hamhuis, now a co-owner of the Cougars, played on that team, which went three rounds deep into the playoffs before bowing out.
The wins aren't just coming on the ice.
Their goaltender, Ty Edmonds, was named the top goalie in the Canadian Hockey League for the second time this week, an honour that includes not only the Western Hockey League, but also the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Edmonds leads the WHL in save percentage this year and is second in goals-against average. He is on pace to pass Billy Thompson and move into second-place for all-time wins by a Cougars goalie early in the new year.
In front of him, local sniper Chase Witala notched his second hat trick in as many games on Tuesday night against the lowly Kootenay Ice, making him an obvious choice for player of the week honours.
Visitors to the WHL website Wednesday afternoon were greeted first by Witala's jubilant face, his three-goal game the highlight of league play Tuesday night, and then by a story and photograph acknowledging the national recognition for Edmonds.
The Cougars are ending 2015 going the opposite direction they started it. They lost 12 games in a row to start the calendar year. Adversity builds winning teams and the core group that underwent that horrible January is the same cast of characters that fought back to win 11 of the team's last 19 games and qualify for the playoffs and is the same group reeling off the wins now.
The series next weekend with the Royals will be an excellent test for the Cougars. It will be the first time the teams have met since the Royals dispatched the Cats in five games in the first round of the playoffs last spring. Next Friday will be the first of six games against the Royals in the next month, four of them at home. The Royals are just two points ahead of the Cougars in the standings at the moment.
Only two teams have shut out the Kelowna Rockets, the defending WHL champions and the best team in the league so far this year - Prince George and Victoria. Only two teams have beat the Rockets more than once this season - Prince George and Victoria. The only two teams to beat the Rockets in Kelowna this season - Prince George and Victoria.
In the stands, the fans are slowly making their way back as support is starting to solidify around the players and the organization. This is a team going in the right direction, on and off the ice. For the first time in a very long time, there is a genuine excitement across the community, based on present success, rather than just faith and loyalty, that the Cougars are on the cusp of greatness.
For the always loyal fans and the new fans already following the Cougars this year, this is old news. For the rest of Prince George, your seat on the bandwagon is warm and awaits your presence. Based on what we're seeing so far this season, you're bound to be in for quite the ride.
