Now, the tricky part. With the Prince George Cougars playoff hopes officially dashed on Tuesday night, the onus is now on the team to find inner motivation to try and make ‘something’ of these final two games this weekend with Kamloops. Making matters even more difficult is that the Cougars can’t even play the role of spoiler for Kamloops, because the Blazers are in the same boat, and have been for the last handful of weeks. These circumstances could make for a very exciting game, or a very dull one, depending on the urgency of the two teams involved in tonight’s game.

OVERVIEW:

Guy Charron’s Kamloops Blazers come into tonight with the second worst record in the WHL at 13-52-2-3. At the start of the 2013-2014 season, the Blazers decided that they were going to re-tool their roster with younger talent, and naturally that has affected the wins and losses column this season. That said, there is no denying the potential of the Blazers team moving forward, and you know that the young Blazers will want to end their home season on a high note tonight.

WHO’S UP FRONT:

One of the major offensive bright spots this season for Kamloops has been 18-year-old forward Cole Ully. The Dallas Stars prospect leads all Blazers in scoring with 29 goals and 68 points through 67 games this season. One more goal would help Ully reach the 30-goal plateau, which would be quite an accomplishment considering how difficult a season it has been for Kamloops. Considering Ully’s success against Prince George this season, it could be a real possibility. In seven games this season, Ully has six goals and 10 points against Prince George.

WHO’S ON D:

Prince George product Josh Connolly continues to be a shining bright spot on the Kamloops Blazers back end. This season the 18-year-old d-man has 11 goals and 45 points, which leads all Blazers blueliners. Not only that, but Connolly has been very durable, and will be the only Blazer to suit up in all 72 games this season barring injury tonight. This season against the Cougars he has seven points in eight games against them.

WHO’S IN GOAL:

This season has been a tough one for Kamloops goaltenders, but the one certainty is that they are going to give you a battle. This season 19-year-old Bolton Pouliot has dressed in 43 games and has put together a goals-against-average of 3.91 and an .889 save percentage. Pouliot is 1-2-0-1 this season against Prince George.

X-FACTOR:

You always want to reward your fans with a victory during your final home game, and tonight the Blazers have that going for them. It will be up for the Cougars to try and quiet the Kamloops crowd as early as possible.

OVERVIEW:

Mark Holick’s Prince George Cougars come into tonight’s game riding a five game losing streak. Obviously the sting of missing the playoffs remains, but that doesn’t hinder the importance of these two final games in the least. Now we can officially state that the ‘audition’ phase is underway for the Cougars, and hopefully tonight we will see a spirited response from a Cougars team looking for their 27th win of the season.

WHO’S UP FRONT:

Will Todd Fiddler reach 50 before the season is done? He’s four goals shy with two to go. On the plus side he has 17 points in five games this season against the Blazers, nine of which have been goals.

WHO’S ON D:

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Marc McNulty could join the 20-goal club this season provided he scores three more times over the next two games. McNulty has surprised a lot of folks this season with his offensive prowess and hopefully he’s got a little more left in the tank here tonight.

WHO’S IN GOAL:

You talk about an audition phase, well these final two games will be very important for the Cougars goaltenders to try and muster up some end-of-season confidence. At this time there has been zero confirmation as to who gets the call tonight for the Cougars in goal.

X-FACTOR:

Captain Troy Bourke needs just three points in his final two games to become the all-time Cougars leader scorer. Is tonight the night? So far this season against Kamloops Bourke has 13 points in eight games.