Part 3 of 5
It’s not how you start the season, it’s how you finish that really matters to Prince George Cougars goalie Tyler Brennan, whose season mirrors that of the Cougars.
The Cougars struggled to gain much traction the first three months of the season and Brennan would be the first to admit he wasn’t up to his usual form until a couple weeks after the Christmas break when he and the Cougars caught fire.
“My first half wasn’t where I wanted it to be and one day I was sitting in my room and kind of thought to myself, ‘you’ve got to pick it up,’ I looked at myself in the mirror and went back to my old ways and the same habits I used to have,” said Brennan. “That’s really all it was, just flipping a switch in my head and getting in a better mindset is kind of what changed it around for me.”
Since returning from an injury Jan. 14, Brennan has been a wall in net, posting a 15-3-1 record the rest of the regular season . He was the obvious first star with 43 saves in the season-ending 3-2 shootout win Saturday over Kamloops.
Heading into the playoffs this weekend against the Tri-City Americans, Brennan has just four WHL playoff games on his resume, all last year against Portland, but in those games he was superb and that led him getting drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the fourth round.
“We had our struggles throughout the year, we had our ups and downs, but in the end we came together as a team and everyone bought in after Christmas and we kind of turned our game around and that good to see heading into playoffs here,” said Brennan.
“Our offensive side of the game is next to none, we’re (fourth in the WHL) for goals but defence is a big part of the game. Defence wins championships and I think, especially after Christmas our defence has exploded and if we keep that up we’ll have lots of success.”
