The Prince George Cougars have completed one-third of their season. They have achieved modest expectations considering half of their roster is 17 or younger.

I suggested in a pre-season column that the Cougars should improve from their last place finish in the Western Conference in 2011-12 to 7^th place in 2012-13, and to date, they are in the hunt to do so.

Overall Record (9-12-1-3): With 22 points in 25 games, the Cougars are tied with Everett for 8^th but have four games in hand on the Silvertips. P.G. is also just three points back of Seattle and five behind 6^th place Victoria. The top five teams (Kamloops, Portland, Tri-City, Spokane and Kelowna) are clearly better than the bottom five. Last place Vancouver is having a rare down year and are appear destined
to miss the playoffs. Everett is in trouble having lost its best player, Ryan Murray, for the season. The indication is that Victoria, Seattle, P.G. and Everett will battle for the final three playoff spots which is a similar race to last year.

Home Record (5-6-1): Atmosphere and doubleheaders play a role but the team seems more tense at
CN Centre.

 

Road Record (4-6-0-3): The Cats have actually played well in Kamloops having lost twice there in shootouts.

Record Beyond Regulation: Shootouts 3-3 and overtime 0-1. The three shootout losses all came in a
15 day span in November.

 

Streaks: Longest losing streak is 7 and longest win streak is 3. The Cougars mental toughness was a concern when the losses mounted.

 

Special Teams: 20^th out of 22 in PP and 21^st in PK. There’s no excuse for “both” to be dismal,
however, the power-play has been productive (6-for-22) in the last four games. The power-play is operating at 15 per cent. The penalty kill is just 72 per cent. The lack of an experienced point man has been noticeable.

 

Penalty Minutes: 2^nd least in the league. The Cougars are averaging just 12 minutes in penalties per game.

Stats: Colin Jacobs leads the team in scoring with 23 points in 25 games; however, the 19-year-old former Seattle Thunderbird is a minus-13. Talented Alex Forsberg was expected to have a breakout season yet has had too many off nights. He is tied with Jari Erricson for second in team scoring (14 points) but is an alarming team worst minus-18. The plus-minus stat can be overrated but it is a credit to Brett Roulston he leads the team (plus 8) even though he was a healthy scratch for eight games early on.

 

 

 

 

 

Goaltending: Mac Engel is 4-7 with a 3.02 GAA (17^th in the league) and a .894 save percentage. The
19-year-old Engel has been inconsistent; a reflection of the rest of the team. Brett Zarowny is 5-5 with a 3.83 GAA and .886 save percentage. The 17-year-old Zarowny is a rookie who has had his moments (opening night shutout) but is still adjusting to the WHL.

 

Side-note: The average attendance is 1,952. Thru 12 home dates, just one has been above 2,100 which was the 4,238 on opening night (Sept 28). Three games at CN Centre have been below 1,500 including a record low of 1,371 (Oct 21).

 

 

·        Head Coach Dean Clark has to accept responsibility for the poor play of the specialty teams but also must get credit for having a disciplined team that goes to the penalty box much less than the opposition. As an example, Victoria is averaging eight more penalty minutes per game than Prince George.

 

·        Although they have size, seven players 6-2 or taller, the Cougars are not a physical team.

 

·        The lack of European influence (again) considerably hurts the Cougars. They are only carrying one import and 18-year-old defenceman Rinalds Rosinskis of Latvia has no points, 18 penalty minutes and is minus-1 in 20 games.

 

·        While Brock Hirsche can’t get a break, injuries have been reduced this season.

 

·        The Cougars have scored 71 goals and surrendered 94 which is typical for an inexperienced team near the bottom of the standings.

 

·        Despite having a roster consisting of mostly draft eligible players, there is only one Cougar that made the Central Scouting preliminary rankings for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. 6-foot-5 defenceman Marc McNulty is ranked 18th among WHL skaters.

 

The Cougars should get better as the season progresses when the youth starts to develop, particularly on the back end.

Overall grade        C-

 

 

 

An anonymous fan recently sent Tim Tebow a gift of a bouquet of balloons —one of which was a Tebow pass from the previous game.

 

 

Nine-year old Sam Gordon has rushed for 35 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 yards this season, including a huge effort in her last game. In order to stop her the next time, a nine-man front will be employed by the Raiders.

 

 

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

 

Former U of Tennessee and NFL WR Cedrick Wilson has been suspended from his Memphis teaching job as one of 18 people charged- so far- in a alleged scheme to help potential public school teachers cheat on their certification tests. Who says college football doesn’t prepare you for the real world?

 

A-Rod and his latest girlfriend, Torrie Wilson, a former Playboy model and professional wrestler, spent the weekend in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. No word on the size of their suite, but presume it had plenty of mirrors.

 

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, Californiawww.leftcoastsportsbabe.com

 

 

Justin Bieber was booed at the Grey Cup. Show me a football fan who knows who Bieber is and I’ll show you… Rod Black.

 

 

An Ontario man who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade has been able to communicate with doctors via brain wave analysis. This is considered a major breakthrough by the NHLPA who want to try this on the Commissoner.

 

 

Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)

 

Don Cherry told the Toronto Sun the material he buys for his suits is probably curtain fabric. Instead
of Grapes, should we be calling him Drapes?

 

Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com      

 

 

 

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com.