Edmonds, Cats Go For Third Straight Victory
A lengthy stretch of road games continues for the Prince George Cougars tonight in Everett, WA. The Cougars who are winners of two straight and seven of their last 10 altogether will face the Everett Silvertips for the third time this season. Tonight’s game starts a stretch where the Cougars will play six of their next eight away from home. A victory tonight for Prince George would move them to .500 on the road and to 9-6 on the season. But a very stingy Everett Silvertips team looms at the opposite end.
EVERETT SILVERTIPS
Overview:
Kevin Constantine’s Everett Silvertips are 6-4-0-1 to start the season. Through 11 games the Silvertips have scored the fewest goals in the WHL (24) but have also
Who’s Up Front:
Offensively the Silvertips are led by 20-year-old forward Remi Laurencelle. Through 11 games, Laurencelle has posted seven points which is the most among all Everett skaters. Again the Silvertips aren’t a team that are going to run-and-gun you. They are a structured group that sticks to their system and when you make mistakes against them they capitalize. Despite not having that ‘game breaking’ scoring threat, the ‘Tips have plenty of talent including: Patrick Bajkov, Carson Stadnyk, Dawson Leedahl and Devon Skoleski.
Who’s on D:
One of the major pillars of strength for this Everett team is their back-end and leading the way is Montreal Canadiens first rounder Noah Juulsen. Juulsen is a real work horse for this Everett team. He plays a TON in all situations, and can move the puck and skate the puck as good as anyone in the entire WHL. So far in nine games this season Juulsen has scored twice and added three assists and 10 penalty minutes.
Who’s in Goal:
Say what you will about the Prince George Cougars goaltending, which has been awesome through 14 games but the Everett Silvertips can definitely make the same claim. The young tandem of Carter Hart and Mario Petit has been brilliant. The 17-year-old Hart has a 2.08 goals-against-average, a .930 save percentage and two shutouts to go along with his 6-4-0-1 record. One of those shutout victories came in Prince George on September 25th. The 18-year-old backup, Petit has been strong too. His goals-against currently sits at 2.14 and his save percentage is .929. Whichever goaltender Kevin Constantine decides to roll with should give the Silvertips some confidence heading into tonight’s matchup.
X-Factor:
Considering that both teams have struggled somewhat offensively to start the season, tonight’s game will be all about patience and discipline. The Silvertips are at their best when they are ahead in games which then allows them to concentrate on structure and defense. It’s a much different story though when they trail and are then forced to open things up. A major key tonight is that ‘first goal’ because there might not be too many of them scored between the two clubs.
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS
Overview:
Mark Holick’s Prince George Cougars are coming into tonight’s game looking for their third win in their past four games, their third straight victory and their seventh win in their past 10 games altogether. The Cougars are coming off a 4-3 victory Monday over Lethbridge at home and despite a somewhat ‘clunky’ game the Cougars were able to snag a victory – Their second one goal victory in a row. Tonight they’ll look to improve their road record to 3-3 when they face the Silvertips for the third time this season. So far the Cougars are 1-1.
Who’s Up Front:
Offensively the Cougars got a big boost on Monday from their top guns. With Jansen Harkins out of the lineup Brad Morrison, Jesse Gabrielle and Chase Witala really stepped up offensively. Morrison and Gabrielle each had a goal and two assists while Witala’s goal in the third period proved to be the game winner. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come for the Cougars top guns who have been known to be streaky scorers, Witala in particular. Tonight in Everett the Cougars will need a big night offensively from those three in particular as goals will almost certainly be difficult to come by tonight.
Who’s on D:
Defensively the Cougars continue to play well having surrendered just the fourth fewest goals against in the entire 22-team league. Team defense as a whole is probably where the Cougars have improved the most from a year ago and that’s the sign of a team that is on the rise. It will be important for the Cougars to maintain this type of defensively consistency on the road as six of their next eight games are taking place away from home. The big keys defensively for the Cougars will continue to be: Discipline, physicality and simplicity. It’s also worth nothing that veteran defenceman Joe Carvalho is celebrating his 20th birthday today, and perhaps that’s a good omen for Carvalho who continues to play some big minutes in all situations for his team.
Who’s in Goal:
Ty Edmonds will get his fifth straight start between the pipes tonight for the Cougars and rightfully so. Edmonds is coming off back-to-back victories against Kelowna and Lethbridge and his 2.13 goals-against-average and .936 save percentage have made him one of the top goaltenders so far in 2015-16. Edmonds is 0-1 on the season against Everett, but played very strongly in a 2-0 September 25th loss at home. Edmonds only allowed one goal against and made 34 saves. Here’s hoping he can go tic-for-tat with Carter Hart (the likely Everett starter) at the other end.
X-Factor:
Similar to the Everett Silvertips, the Prince George Cougars are an awfully difficult team to defeat when they score the first goal. The Cougars have struck first in 10 of their first 14 games this season and not surprisingly they’ve gone 8-2 in games where they have struck first. The XFinity Arena has been rather friendly to the Cougars in recent years as they’ve compiled a 6-2 record dating back to 2011-12. Hopefully all systems are go tonight for the Cougars who are looking for their season high third straight victory of the season, and a 9-6 overall record.
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