Cougars’ Season Comes To A Close
Royals 5 – Cougars 4 (OT)
The Prince George Cougars can hold their heads high. They gave the Victoria Royals all that they could handle, and then some. But their first playoff series in four years came to an end Saturday night in Victoria in dramatic fashion. The plucky Cougars erased a 3-1 and a 4-3 deficit, and tied the game with 1:14 left to force overtime. But Brandon Magee ended the series 1:42 into the extra frame to lift Victoria into the second round. Zach Pochiro recorded his first WHL hat-trick for the Cougars, while Greg Chase responded with a hat-trick of his own for Victoria. It was a memorable series, and one that will no doubt help the Prince George Cougars in the long run.
Victoria led 3-1 after the first period. Greg Chase opened the scoring at 9:04 of the first on a power play, but Zach Pochiro was quick to counter with his second of the series to tie the game 1-1. Brandon Fushimi restored Victoria’s lead on a wrap-around (unassisted) at 13:41 of the first, and Greg Chase doubled the lead at 17:04 to give the Royals a 3-1 lead after the first period.
Credit the Cougars who came back in the second with a persistent attack. They outshot the Royals 15-8, and had it not been for some timely stops for Victoria’s Coleman Vollrath, the end result could have been worse. Zach Pochiro notched his second of the game for the Cougars at 15:14 on the power play to move the Cougars back within a goal, and the Cougars went into the third with momentum on their side.
It was more of the same in the third, the Cougars doubled the Royals in shots 14-7, and would eventually be rewarded for their efforts when (guess who?) Zach Pochiro skated across the Royals blueline, and wired a shot past Coleman Vollrath and in for his third of the night, his fourth of the series and his first ever WHL hat-trick to tie the game at three.
Greg Chase restored Victoria’s lead a minute and 16 seconds later off a three-on-two rush, but the Cougars were not ready to call it a day.
With under two minutes remaining in the game, Brandon Magee took a delay of game penalty, which provided the Cougars with one last-ditch power play opportunity, and guess what! They delivered. Right off a face off, Jansen Harkins won the draw to his left right to the stick of Brad Morrison. Morrison wasted no time and blasted a shot past the glove of Coleman Vollrath to tie the game at four. Overtime was needed.
A minute and 48 seconds into the final period, Brandon Magee clinched the series when he took an Alex Forsberg pass and deflected it past Ty Edmonds and in for his sixth of the series and the series clincher.
The Cougars outshot the Royals in four of the five games of the series, and finished the series 8-27 on the power play and only surrendered three power play goals against in the entire series.
A tough loss for a young and resilient team who didn’t quit, no matter the circumstance. But no doubt the experience from the 2014-15 playoffs will help further shape and mold this organization as it moves forward.
The Prince George Cougars wish the Victoria Royals the very best in their second round series with the Kelowna Rockets. It was a heck of a series, and no doubt there are several learning lessons to be had for this young group of Cougars who will only benefit from this experience, no matter how difficult it may seem today.
Comments
It was great to see some playoff hockey in Prince George once again. Definitely looking forward to next season. GO CATS GO!!!!!
Well management has another year to try and make it right….
all the hype in the end didn’t work so I am curious what their next ploy is…
I guess we will know this fall.
Looking from the outside in, I would say management did get it right:
1. They put a competitive team on the ice.
2. They developed and improved community relations.
3. They supported local initiatives.
4. They developed some young talent.
5. And most importantly, they treated their young athletes with integrity.
No organization is going to present a championship team every year; however, I will go on record as supporting and cheering the direction the new management team is taking.
Congrats to the team on a great year!
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They could have won the WHL and bcracer would have complained about them somehow
Congratulations team, coaches and owners.. You did fantastic in year one of the new ice age. My work buys season tickets every year and this year people where asking for the tickets instead of the guy in charge begging people to,take the. :). It’s not like throwing a light switch and you get a winning team..it takes time and good judgement to get there..and its nice to know we have a ownership that cares..
Can’t wait till next year.
Welcome back Cougars!
metalman.
@bcracer – ownership owes nothing to you, never will. They put up a lot of money, and shut up a lot of homers along the way, people like you. They made the playoffs, got more people to the games, raised the respect of this team and franchise…and they aren’t living and dying by your support.
But you know, I’m sure you believe you know more than them. 6 of the best business owners in PG, saving this franchise and doing so with a smile on their faces. They aren’t living , or dying, by this team…. but you somehow think they are.
happy with the personal shots people,,,, seems you are allowed to cheer for them but I am not allow my thoughts…
I have backed up all my opinions and the best you can do is personal shots, congratulations..
Where are the personal shots bcracer? A bit sensitive are we? Where have you backed up your opinions on this subject? If you had any clue whatsoever about hockey, you would know that it will take 4-5 years to rebuild this team to something that will compete at the highest level. You took it upon yourself to stand on a soapbox and take a shot at Management of the team, suggesting that only hype and ploys were used. If you’re going to do that, you should expect some blowback opinions coming your direction, without your feelings getting hurt.
And btw, you have stated on numerous occasions that you dislike hockey in it’s current form. While you have every right to comment, I’m never quite understanding why you bother, or care.
Bcracer has every right to be a whiner, it’s in his constitution. I’m not much of a hockey fan either but the team and management have done an excellent job putting the cats back on the map. Kudos to all of them.
I’m not sure that the Cougars are back on the map. Lets remember that the Winter Games were going to put Prince George on the map, how is that working for us??
We cannot overlook the fact that there WAS a lot of hype around the Cougars this year, a lot of special gimmicks to sell tickets, along with quite a few freebee’s. This in addition to the new management and a better standard of hockey drove up fan attendance. Now the question is, can management continue to spend that kind of money, and still show a profit, and will the attendance hold in the next few years??
That’s the real question, and it will require those fans that came for the freebee’s and hype, to now become fans on a regular basis. So we need at least a 2000 fan per game increase for all games next year to show that.
A. There is a solid fan base for this team in Prince George/Area
B. The owners can over a say(3/5) year period see that they will get some return on their investment.
Low fan turnout for the next few years would suck. So we will just have to sit back and let the **Good times roll**.
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