Cougars Open Home and Home In Kamloops Friday

By 250 News

Friday night's tilt with the Blazers in Kamloops is not do or die, but it sure would help.  The Prince George Cougars finish the season with back-to-back games against Kamloops, starting at Interior Savings Centre Friday night.

The numbers would suggest the Cougars are catching Kamloops at a good time: the Blazers have lost six in a row and five straight against Prince George in the season series.  But all that gets thrown out the window when the two teams square off for the seventh of eight meetings this season.  The Cougars have out-scored the Blazers 32-20 in the season series so far and have posted high scoring wins such as 7-5, 8-1 and 9-5.  The last of those was in the last meeting between the two teams on January 26 in Prince George.  Charles Inglis leads the Cougars in scoring against the Blazers this season with 12 points on five goals and seven assists.  Brett Connolly has a Cougars high six goals against the Blazers this year in only four games, missing two December games right before Christmas while attending the 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.

Brendan Ranford, who leads the the Blazers with 33 goals and 86 points, has collected 10 points in six games against the Cougars this season.  But the skilled forward won't be available for the Blazers this weekend thanks to a six game suspension handed to him by the league following a game misconduct he took in a game against the Kelowna Rockets last Friday.

The Cougars hold a three point lead on Kamloops and Seattle for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and are only a point out of seventh behind the Everett Silvertips.  The Silvertips are at Portland and the Thunderbirds travel to Spokane Friday.  The Cougars magic number to clinch a playoff spot is two and only one on Kamloops, which is determined by Cougars wins and Seattle and Blazers regulation losses, or overtime and shoot-out losses, which would bring the numbers down by half a point.

The Cougars and Blazers both play game 72 Saturday in Prince George, starting at 7:00pm at CN Centre.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.  Should the Cougars clinch a playoff spot this weekend, playoff tickets will go on sale Monday morning at 10:00am.

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