The Prince George Cougars have come a long way in terms of distance to get to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre tonight. And even longer in other ways.
To put it into perspective, this is the Cougars’ first Western Hockey League playoff appearance since the Chilliwack Bruins moved to Victoria to become the Royals in 2011-12.
The Bruins/Royals franchise has hardly been post-season royalty, either. It took eight years for the franchise to win its first playoff series, which happened last season when Victoria blanked Spokane 4-0 in the opening round before losing a contentious second-round series in five games to the Portland Winterhawks.
Two franchises, each with much to prove, meet in the first round of the 2015 WHL Conference playoffs as the B.C. Division second-seed Royals (39-29-4) open with Games 1-2 at home tonight and Saturday at the Memorial Centre against the divisional third-seed Cougars (31-36-5), before the series switches to Prince George for Games 3-4 on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Royals were 21-12-3 at the Memorial Centre and barely above .500 on the road at 18-17-1, so will want to get off to a good start this weekend.
Victoria won the eight-game regular-season series against Prince George 5-3. But from the Cougars’ perspective, that head-to-head record was 3-3-2. And the Cougars enter the playoffs cresting at 7-3-1 in their last 11 games, with every one of those played under playoff-like conditions in a desperate stretch drive that allowed them to clinch a playoff berth. That after a January in which they endured an 11-game losing streak.
“[The Royals] finished ahead of us and are favoured and well coached,” said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. “But we’ve been playing playoff hockey since Feb. 1. We’re still a young group but we stayed the course and are happy to be here and we’ll see what happens. We are going to work as hard as we can.”
The difference between the sides is experience. This core group of Royals has been through two first-round playoff defeats against Kamloops before last season’s breakthrough against Spokane. In comparison, only three of the Cougars skating tonight have played in a previous WHL playoff game.
Victoria’s age advantage was further emphasized Thursday when leading-scorer and 20-year-old forward Austin Carroll signed an entry-level NHL contract with the Calgary Flames.
“Hopefully, our experienced guys can lead this team for a long playoff push,” said Carroll, who had 38 goals and 77 points to lead the Royals.
Holick’s team will try to block that from happening.
“The Royals are heavier than us in size and older and they are going to try to use both of those [factors],” said Holick.
The Royals are taking nothing for granted.
“[The Cougars] have been playing well lately and battling for their lives . . . and that helps going into the playoffs,” said 20-year-old Victoria forward Brandon Magee.
Added Carroll: “We had hard-fought battles with them every game this season.”
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Royals head coach Dave Lowry sees some similarities between the teams.
“[The Cougars] play a hard, physical game. They compete and can skate,” he noted.
“It’s going to be a battle. Hopefully, they are banged up because they’ve had to play playoff-style hockey the last two months.”
Here is a breakdown:
OFFENCE: The great fallacy about the Royals is that they are a blue-collar scoring team. This year, they set the franchise record for most goals in a season and were the third-highest scoring team in the Western Conference, with five players notching 20 or more goals and eight players with 55-plus points. They have more than enough top-end finishers through forwards Carroll, Magee, Greg Chase, Alex Forsberg and Tyler Soy up front and Joe Hicketts and Travis Brown from the back end. They also have enough depth with the likes of Jack Walker, Logan Fisher, Taylor Crunk and Brandon Fushimi who can bang in the greasy rebounds when not busy grinding down the opposition with their suffocating coverage.
Prince George centre Jansen Harkins, son of Cougars GM Todd Harkins, is the 18th-ranked North American skater for the 2015 NHL draft, and led the team with 79 points. Chase Witala had 38 goals for P.G., while six-foot-two St. Louis Blues prospect Zach Pochiro got in eight games of pro this season with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL.
Advantage: Victoria
DEFENCE: The best is yet to come for the Cougars with six-foot-three 16-year-old rookie Josh Anderson of Duncan. Until then, there are some leaks with Prince George allowing the most goals against by far in the Western Conference. But dynamic P.G. blue-liner Josh Connolly, who had five goals and eight points in seven games against Victoria, needs to be contained.
The Royals have a bit of everything on a well-balanced and competent blue-line. Hicketts and Brown can stretch the ice, while Chaz Reddekopp and Ryan Gagnon can ably take care of the home end.
Advantage: Victoria
GOALTENDING: Coleman Vollrath plays exceedingly well in stretches for the Royals, but that sometimes is followed by periods of inconsistency. Justin Paulic is a battler who won’t be afraid to stick his mask into what should be a crowded crease as the Cougars will look to crowd it for screen and scramble goals.
“It’s not set in stone who starts,” said Vollrath.
“Whoever it is, the other will be supportive.”
About the Cougars, Vollrath noted: “They drive to the net, so you have to battle for crease position against them, and find and control the puck.”
In the P.G. crease, don’t let Ty Edmonds’ 3.64 goals-against average fool you. He is imposing at six-foot-two and an old-school workhorse who played 60 games this season behind a young and often porous blue line. More importantly, some of his best games were against Victoria, despite the fact that the Royals managed 30 goals on the Cougs in eight games (P.G. scored 20 against Victoria).
“Goaltending is the wildcard that can take you a long way in the playoffs,” said Holick. “When [Edmonds] is playing well, the guys feed off that.”
Advantage: Prince George
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Cougars took the most penalties in the league this season and had a penalty-kill unit that ranked 22nd and last in the league with a 71.9 per cent kill rate. That is not a good combination, especially when up against Victoria’s sixth-ranked power play, which scored on 22 per cent of its chances. P.G.’s 19th-ranked power play scored at a 15.9 per cent clip.
“Special teams and discipline are going to be key,” said Holick.
No kidding.
Advantage: Victoria
COACHING: Both teams are very well coached. Dan Lambert of Kelowna got the nod, yet Holick had to have received some votes for Western Conference coach of the year. But there’s a reason Lowry was named to coach Canada at the 2016 world junior championship.
Advantage: Victoria
