Jim Playfair wasn’t mincing words in a post-game interview Friday after his Prince George Cougars lost 3-2 to the Red Deer Rebels.
What he saw from the bench as the Cougars’ associate coach was simply not a good enough effort.
The Rebels rode the goaltending of 16-year-old rookie Peyton Shore, who stopped 38 of 40 shots for his first WHL victory, but in Playfair’s evaluation, the Cougars showed they didn’t want to do the work it takes to win in the Western Hockey League.
“I think we’re playing arrogant hockey,” said Playfair. “I think we just want to outscore the opposition and not want to dig in and work and do things all over the ice.
“We felt with a young goaltender and the firepower we have we’d walk in and score goals and we have to readjust our mindset and realize we’ve been outworked four of five games in a row. The decision has to from the captain to the assistants to the rest of group to decide we’re going to outwork with our skills and be a good team or run for the hills and hopefully score goals on the power play to win games, and that’s completely unacceptable.”
Terik Parascak opened the scoring for the Cougars with his 13th goal, 11 minutes into the opening period, but the Rebels tied it when Matthew Gard took advantage of a turnover in the offensive zone to score his first of two goals on Joshua Ravensbergen.
In the third period, Jaxon Fuder gave the Rebels the lead and Gard added to the count on a wraparound. Cougars defenceman Carson Carels scored late on a power play with Ravensbergen on the bench, but that was all the Cats could muster.
They outshot Red Deer 40-31.
The Cougars went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Red Deer was 0-for-3.
Although the Cougars went into their current roadtrip having won five of six games on their most recent homestand, they were playing just well enough to win those games, not like a team that wants to be part of the WHL’s elite.
Playfair says the Cougars cannot afford to rest on their laurels as defending BC Division champions who got to the conference final last season. Their past success only inspires their opponents.
“At this point in the season with this hockey club, two points is what’s expected,” said Playfair.
“What I think our team doesn’t realize is we’re going to get everybody’s best. We’ve earned the right in the last three years with the Prince George Cougars’ organization to be a well-respected team in the league and with that comes responsibility and pressure and we have to learn how to handle that pressure, and until we do that it’s going to be a grind.”
The loss dropped the Cougars ‘ record to 13-7-3-2, still first in the BC Division, just ahead of Victoria (13-8-3-2). Red Deer improved t 11-10-1-2, good for seventh in the Eastern Conference.
The Cougars finish off their three-game trip tonight in Edmonton against the Oil Kings (11-11-1-1). That game webcast is available on CHL TV, sponsored by MEDIchair NorthBC, starting at 6 p.m. PT. Cole Waldie’s play-by-play broadcast is also on 94.3 FM, The Goat.
