It’s been 20 months since the Prince George Cougars have faced a WHL opponent from outside the B.C. Division and despite all the highway closures associated with Sunday’s rainstorm, the Tri City Americans plan to be in Prince George this weekend.
They left Kennewick late Wednesday to make the 14-hour trip from south-central Washington to Prince George. The three-day rainstorm that closed highways and flooded Abbotsford forced the Americans to take a longer route that added about an hour to their trip, crossing the border at Osoyoos rather than Abbotsford. The Americans overnighted in Kamloops and were due to arrive in Prince George sometime this afternoon.
“We were a little concerned about the weekend when we first heard of the flooding and obviously feel terrible for everyone affected by that but in our situation, it doesn’t appear to be affected our games this weekend at all,” said Andy Beesley, the Cougars vice-president of business.
The Americans and Cougars clash on CN Centre ice Friday and Saturday and both teams are struggling to find a winning rhythm.
The Cougars (6-9-0-0, fourth in B.C. Division) have lost their last three games and will wrap up a six-game homestand with the two-game series against the Americans.
Injuries have hobbled the Cougars. They have four players sidelined this week and Lamb says he won’t know until Friday whether any of the four will be available. C Kyren Gronick suffered an upper-body in Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Vancouver Giants and he’s listed as week-to-week. Then in Friday’s game, a 5-2 loss to the Kelowna Rockets, RW Caden Brown and LW Fisher O’Brien suffered upper-body injuries and D Bauer Dumanski left with a lower-body injury. Brown and O’Brien are day-to-day, while Dumanski is listed as week-to-week. RW Blake Eastman also got hurt in Friday’s game but played in Saturday’s rematch with the Rockets, which ended in a 3-0 defeat.
The Cougars acquired 18-year-old D Aiden Brook in a trade with the Medicine Hat Tigers and he arrived in time for Friday’s game. They’ve also added 17-year-old C Gavin Schmidt from the Okotoks U-18 triple-A ranks and he made his WHL debut on Saturday.
The Americans (3-7-2-0, fifth in U.S. Division) ended a nine –game losing streak Saturday at home with a 6-5 win over the Portland Winterhawks. The Ams scored five-straight goals to erase a 3-0 deficit in the second period, then needed a third-period goal from centre Petr Moravec five minutes into the third period to cinch the victory.
The injury bug has also biiten Tri-City with goalie Tomas Suchnek and forwards Sasha Mutala, Andrew Fan, Tanner Gould and Elouann Lemmenier all sidelined.
“They’re a young team that’s rebuilding, too, that’s where we’re at and we go through spurts,” said Lamb. “We’ve only got three players who have played a full season in this league, that’s our overagers (Jonny Hooker, Connor Bowie and Taylor Gauthier).
“Playing in our own division, it’s a very hard division, which doesn’t matter, but I think it’s going to be refreshing to see some different jerseys and some different styles. We’re going on the road and it’s going to be a bit different getting out of our division, so we’re excited about that.”
The Cougars will head out on their first extended roadtrip next week, a five-game trip that begins Saturday, Nov. 27 in Kelowna. They also play in Seattle (Nov. 30), Portland (Dec. 1), Spokane (Dec. 3) and Tri-City (Dec. 4), before making their way back to Prince George.
“In the hub (spring season), the hockey was the easiest thing, and now you put in the travel and even last week with four games in five nights and all those injuries -it’s a real mental battle so all that stuff should get us hardened pretty quick,” said Lamb.
Next week, the Cougars will be losing 16-year-old forwards Riley Heidt and Ryker Singer, who have been selected for the CHL’s Capital City Challenge tournament in Ottawa, Nov. 26-Dec. 1. They’re among 20 WHL players piked for the tournament, which pits three teams of players from the WHL, OHL and QMJHL against the Canadian national women’s team. Singer will play for Team Canada Black, while Heidt will suit up for Team Canada Red.
Both considered WHL rookies, Heidt and Singer will miss three Cougar games. Heidt leads the Cats in scoring with four goals and eight assists for 12 points, having played all 15 games, while Singer has a goal and two assists in 13 games.
“The thing is they’re regular players, it’s not like they’re just pieces, they’re regular in-the-lineup guys, so that’s the impact we’re going to have,” said Lamb. “But it’s good for them to go. They get the recognition, but that’s where we’re at with a young team.”
The Cougars have struggled bigtime on the power play and rank last in the 22-team WHL in that department, with just six goals in 58 opportunities (10.3 per cent) and one shorthanded goal allowed. That’s a dramatic departure from the pre-season, when the Cougars went five-for-15 (33 per cent) and had the best power-play statistics in the WHL.
“Our special teams have kind of switched,” said Cougars head coach Mark Lamb.
“At the start of the year it was our bright spot and now it’s not, so we’re going through a real funk. You just keep working at it and you try your best not to let frustration set in. Our power play is a tricky thing and it goes in streaks and when you have the man advantage (you think) you should score, and it gets in your head and you quit doing things that make you successful.”
The Prince George penalty-killing has been quite effective, fifth best in the league, with just 12 goals allowed in 70 shorthanded situations.
The Americans’ head coach is Stu Barnes, an original member of the Tr-City team in 1988 when the franchise moved from New Westminster. Barnes went on to play 1,136 regular season and 116 playoff games in the NHL over a 16-season career in the NHL as a centre with Winnipeg, Florida, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Dallas. He retired in 2008 and served two stints as an assistant coach in Dallas (2009-11, 2017-19) before getting hired this season to take over the Americans.
LOOSE PUCKS: Friday’s scheduled game in Kamloops between the Blazers and Victoria Royals has been rescheduled to Feb. 19. It’s the only WHL game postponed due to the storm.… The Canadian Hockey League released the schedule for the 2020 Memorial Cup in Saint John, N.B. The tournament, Jun 4-13, will determine the major junior hockey champions. The host Saint John Sea Dogs open on Saturday, June 4 against the Ontario Hockey League champions, then on Sunday, June 5, the WHL champs take on their counterparts form the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Kelowna was selected to host the 2021 Memorial Cup but the pandemic wiped out those plans… The Regina Pats announced that John Paddock has taken over as head coach to replace Dave Struch, who was fired on Thursday. Struch served four years as an associate coach before he was handed the head coaching duties in 2018 to allow Paddock to focus more on his job as general manager and vice-president of hockey operations.
