Heading into the last weekend of the WHL season, about the only thing certain about the Prince George Cougars' playoff chances is they control their own destiny.
At this stage of the game, with just two games left, the last thing the Prince George Cougars need is to roll a gutter ball.
They've got two helpings of the Kamloops Blazers on their plate this weekend -- tonight in Kamloops and Saturday night at CN Centre -- and if the Cougars win both, they can start printing playoff tickets. They are three points ahead of the Blazers in the WHL Western Conference standings and can take comfort in the fact they've won the last five of six games against the Blazers this season. Does that give the Cats a psychological edge? Maybe, but it will prove meaningless if the Blazers win both games.
The eighth-place Cougars also have the Seattle Thunderbirds to worry about. The T-birds stayed in the hunt with a 5-0 win Wednesday in Kelowna, which left Seattle tied in points with Kamloops, both with 63, but Seattle has three games left to climb in the standings. Seattle has to win at least two games -- tonight in Spokane, at home Saturday against Portland and Sunday against Tri-City -- and hope the Cougars fail to gain a point.
If the Cougars finish seventh, they would avoid a long-distance opening-round series against either Portland or Spokane and instead would play the B.C. Division-champion Kelowna Rockets, a team they swept in a two-game series six weeks ago in Prince George. For that to happen, the Cats have to dislodge the Everett Silvertips, who passed Prince George Wednesday with a 2-1 win at Tri-Cities. But while the Cats have just two games left, Everett has three remaining -- tonight in Portland, Saturday in Chilliwack and Sunday in Vancouver.
"Our goal is to finish seventh and in order to do that we'll have to win both games this weekend," said Cougars head coach Dean Clark. "We also know Kamloops is a team that's going to be desperate, too and we have to be prepared to play a very good road game [tonight] to have success.
"What we've tried to do this week is prepare the guys like it's a playoff weekend. If we lose both, we could be on the outside looking in at the playoffs. There's even a scenario where the bottom four teams could all be tied, which is unbelievable.
"We've played really good on the road lately. For whatever reason, we played better hockey. We lost to Spokane and Red Deer [at home], both top-10 teams in the country, and we're just not at that level. But I'm certainly happy with the way our guys are right now, I think the mindset is better than it was. We had a really good trip [last weekend]. Everybody played hard, we didn't have any passengers and I'm really encouraged about that."
There's also a race on for first in the west. Portland is just one point ahead of Spokane and each team has three games left, including a head-to-head battle Sunday in Portland.
In the Eastern Conference, all but three playoff positions are determined. Saskatoon and Red Deer are the division champions, followed by Medicine Hat, Kootenay and Moose Jaw. Edmonton could move ahead of Brandon into sixth place, depending their weekend results. The Wheat Kings are one point ahead of the Oil Kings, and each has two games left. Lethbridge could still catch Prince Albert for the eighth spot, trailing the Raiders by four points.
If the Cougars do clinch a spot, playoff tickets would go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. at the CN Centre box office.
