The Prince George Cougars have nine games left until Christmas -- still plenty of opportunity to go shopping for points before they get a week-long break from the grind of the Western Hockey League schedule.
November was a productive month for the Cougars, who had six wins, three regulation time defeats one loss in overtime and a shootout loss. That's allowed the Cougars to keep ahead of the Kamloops Blazers and stay within striking distance of the B.C. Division frontrunners -- Kelowna and Victoria.
The Cougars (13-9-1-1) earned three out of a possible four points in their weekend set against Kamloops at CN Centre. After a 4-3 shootout loss to the Blazers on Friday, they trounced Kamloops 7-3 in Saturday's rematch to finish the weekend three points up on the fourth-place Blazers.
Now the Cougars' attentions are fixed on the always tough Portland Winterhawks, who will be playing at CN Centre tonight (7 p.m.) and Wednesday.
"We saw them in the preseason but it's a totally different team now," said Cougars assistant coach Roman Vopat. "If they're anything like last they're going to be skilled. But if we play like we did (Saturday) and even (Friday) night, I think we're going to win.
"We're building a team that's physical, hard to play against, a great skating team with a lot of skill. So if we combine all those together in a game we're going to win a lot of games."
Coming off a 3-0 loss in Portland Saturday to the Vancouver Giants the Winterhawks (12-11-0-0) rank eighth in the Western Conference, four points behind the sixth-place Cougars.
Detroit Red Wings prospect Dominic Turgeon, drafted in the third round in 2014, leads the 'Hawks in scoring with 12 goals 25 points in 23 games, followed closely by rookie Latvian import Rodrigo Abols, who has 20 points, eight of which are goals.
The 'Hawks have four other players drafted by NHL teams. LW Paul Bittner (Columbus, second round, 38th overall in 2015, eight goals and 19 points in 2015-16; C Keegan Iverson (New York Rangers, third round in 2014, 7-8-15); RW Alex Schoenborn (San Jose, third round in 2014, 8-6-14); and G Adin Hill (Arizona, third round, 2015, 2.87 goals-against average, .917 save percentage).
Another Winterhawk to watch is left winger Rihards Bukarts, also from Latvia, who joined Portland Oct. 28 in a trade from Brandon for a conditional third-round bantam pick in 2016. Bukarts had 74 points in 62 games with the Wheat Kings in 2014-15. In nine games with Portland he has three goals and five assists.
Former Cariboo Cougar defenceman Conor MacEachern, 17, has played 16 games as a rookie with the 'Hawks and scored his first WHL goal Nov. 6 against Kelowna.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Winterhawks sent 18-year-old Prince George-born forward Austin Gray and 17-year-old forward Reed Morrison to the injury-riddled Kootenay Ice in exchange for a seventh round bantam pick in 2016, in a trade announced Sunday.
Gray led the Cariboo Cougars major midget team in scoring last season with 25 goals and 64 points. In two games this season with Portland, Gray was held without a point and had a plus-two rating.
"Austin Gray is coming off an impressive season in the BC Major Midget League and unfortunately due to injury was only able to spend a brief time in Portland," Ice general manager Jeff Chynoweth told whl.ca. "With our depleted forward ranks, Austin will be stepping into a situation where he will be given a chance to play regularly,"
The Ice also acquired forward Jesse Zaharichuk, 18, from Kamloops for an fifth-round pick in 2018. Zaharichuk had four goals and 13 points in 17 games with the Blazers.
