Friday night in Victoria, the Prince George Cougars open what has to be considered one of the most crucial seasons in the team's 23-year Western Hockey League history in Prince George.
In junior terms, this is an older team, loaded with 19-year-olds and built to win now in the third season since the EDGEPRO Sports & Entertainment ownership group ushered in its New Ice Age revival of a once-moribund franchise.
Millions have been invested in bringing a professional approach to the team's day-to-day operations to make the franchise viable and keep the Cougars in Prince George and if there was ever a time for fans to get excited about seeing the team return to its glory days, this is the year. The Cougars are loaded with talent, size, speed and experience and appear to have all the right ingredients to make themselves the talk of the town again.
Lengthy playoff runs have been few and far between ever since the Cougars arrived from Victoria in 1994. They've made it as far as the third round three times, in 1996, 2000 and 2007, but never beyond. This could well be the year they run the table.
"I think with this group we have, we'll win lots of games," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins, now entering his third season as GM.
"The biggest asset we have is our age and maturity. The majority of our team are strong, mature men who understand the business, understand their goals and understand what this city and this organization wants.
"I think you're going to see a camaraderie amongst all the players and when they hit the ice they're going to play for each other. I see how happy they are and that's an exciting thing about where we are today from where we were last year or the year before."
The decision to part company with head coach Mark Holick, who still had a year left in a three-year contract, was officially listed as "mutual parting of ways," but there's no doubt Holick's premature departure was spurred by the Cougars' second-half tailspin last season in which they dropped from CHL honourable mention status in December to barely making the playoffs. Former NHL defenceman Richard Matvichuk is now calling the shots behind the bench with help from assistants Shawn Chambers and Steve O'Rourke. Matvichuk's breath-of-fresh-air approach to teaching the game has been fully endorsed by the players.
"He's been fantastic," said goalie Nick McBride. "He's a real player's coach and he works really well with the goalies, so it's really nice to come to the rink every morning. It's just a good vibe in the dressing room. Last year, everyone could have been a little too nervous, a little too anxious about being yelled at. This year we're having fun, bonding as a team and it's been good."
There's no denying the team under Holick was not a happy bunch. The Cougars failed to live up to early-season expectations, which created some friction among the players. While it was beyond Holick's control, some of them didn't like each other and they weren't as united as they appear to be under Matvichuk's influence this season. As defencemen with the 1998-99 Dallas Stars, Matvichuk and Chambers learned what it takes to win a Stanley Cup, and Chambers, a former New Jersey Devil, has two Cup rings, which gives them instant credibility. Nobody has been in Matvichuk's doghouse yet, and even when he barks, it's been easy to accept.
"When Rich talks to us he's calm, cool and collected and he knows what he's talking about - there's been no panic, no yelling, no fighting," said goalie Ty Edmonds. "We all respect him and feel he respects us and that makes it easier to build a connection and just have more success, on and off the ice."
Matvichuk says he will be the disciplinarian, if needed, but only when it's needed.
"I'm a true believer that if you're not having fun in what you're doing there's no sense doing it," said Matvichuk. "I know they've been beat on a little bit here in the past but we've changed the culture and we're having fun and if you ask some of the guys it's a different atmosphere here."
The Cougars will start the season tonight in Victoria with eight players involved in NHL camps out of the lineup. Six of those players - forwards Jansen Harkins (Winnipeg), Brad Morrison (New York Rangers), Jesse Gabrielle (Boston) and defencemen Tate Olson (Vancouver), Sam Ruopp (Columbus) and Josh Anderson (Colorado) - were drafted by NHL teams. Two others - forward Brogan O'Brien (Colorado) and Kody McDonald (Montreal) - earned invitations to pro camps based on their play with the Cougars last season.
Assuming they get all eight back, and that's what team management has been led to believe, it's going to be a lot of fun for Cougar fans watching that group show off skills they've developed playing with the pros.
Gabrielle and Harkins have shown great chemistry playing together in the preseason and are the most likely candidates to lead the team in scoring this season. Gabrielle has surpassed all expectations since he arrived last year in a deal from Regina. Coming off a 40-goal, 75-point season, he could become the first Cougar to reach the 50-goal mark since Todd Fiddler did it in 2013-14. Harkins dropped from 79 points in his draft year to 57 points last season and he's showing every indication he'll live up to the hype that made him a second-round pick of the Jets in 2014.
Morrison is as flashy as they come and having added a bit of bulk to his six-foot frame, he's better built to dazzle with his puck-handling skills and skating ability.
The Cougars have the talent and the speed to forecheck teams to death, one of their biggest strengths heading into the new season. They will depend on the likes of McDonald, O'Brien, Jared Bethune, Aaron Boyd, Colby McAuley, Justin Almeida and imports Bartek Bison and Russian-born Yan Khomenko for secondary scoring. McAuley, McDonald and Kolby Johnson are energy players who thrive on agitation, a necessary ingredient that wins hockey games.
The defence is in good hands with returnees Ruopp, Anderson, Olson, Shane Collins, Joel Lakusta, Max Martin, and (until they make their decisions on 20-year-olds) Shaun Dosanjh. Anderson has a mean streak he's not afraid to utilize and was sorely missed when he went down with a back injury that ended his season in January. Ruopp doesn't make many mistakes and has a habit of trying to put players through the boards with his body. Olson is an offensive catalyst who keeps getting better with age and Collins, the most fit Cougar in training camp testing, is thriving under the influence of his new coach. Martin missed most of last season recovering from shoulder surgery and if he stays healthy his puck movement and passing ability will move him up the scoring charts. The Cats will likely create room for at least one of the newcomers on the blueline - Peter Kope, Ryan Schoettler and Cole Moberg.
There aren't many spots available at any position and as far as GM Harkins is concerned, there won't be many 16- and 17-year-olds wearing Cougar jerseys until they're ready for the WHL.
"We're trying to be the Detroit Red Wings or the Montreal Canadiens of the Western Hockey League," said Todd Harkins. "We want our players so when they step into our lineup they're ready to play for us, and that's something we've been able to do by making our list deeper and stronger through the draft and our listed players. We don't want to put our players in bad situations where they don't develop."
Matvichuk has already stated his team will be much more disciplined on the ice and won't lead the WHL in penalty minutes like the Cougars did the past two years. This is a veteran-laden crew that won't get pushed around and won't get goaded into lazy stick penalties. Matvichuk wants the Cougars to own the puck and with their quick forecheck and capable puck-movers on the back end, there's no reason not to expect them to dictate where the puck is going.
"Our saying is, if we don't have it we're going to go get it, and if we have it we want to hold on to it - we won't be a dump-and-chase team," said Matvichuk. "We want to make plays and we want to score goals, but that being said, defence and goaltending win championships."
Edmonds and McBride will form what could be one of the league's top goaltending tandems. Edmonds, 20, played 45 games last year and his 2.75 goals-against average and .913 save percentage with four shutouts were career highs. But McBride, 19, is no slouch and has looked great in the preseason (1.41 GAA, .963 save percentage). He feels healthy for the first time in his WHL career and he'll want to play more than the 28 games he got involved in last season.
There are no weak links in Cougarville and if fickle fans are waiting to get on the bandwagon they might want to consider getting in on the ground floor to avoid the lineups come playoff time in April.
After nine straight years of first-round playoff exits or not even making it into the post-season, the tide has turned. This Cougar team has everything going for it and hopefully the fans will come out to watch what should be the first Prince George team to bring home a WHL banner.
