Cougars Stay Unbeaten on Playoff Home Ice

By Kelly Sharp

Prince George Cougars improved to 3-0 on home ice this Western Hockey League post season with a convincing 5-1 victory over the Everett Silvertips to trail the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final 2 games to 1. In shades of their first round victories over Kamloops at CN Centre the Cats were energized by their first goal and the 4877 fans. Trailing 1-0 after the opening twenty minutes on a Jonathan Harty power play goal, Prince George erupted for three second period goals. Ty Wishart’s shot from the edge of the Everett faceoff circle handcuffed Leland Irving to give Prince George a 1-1 tie 8:21 into the middle frame. “It was awesome to hear the crowd erupt like that is fantastic, I think it got us going a bit,” said Wishart. Just a bit, Jared Walker used Chris Durand as a decoy in overpowering Irving with a wrist shot; the Cougars led 2-1 at 15:45. And only a minute and half later Nick Drazenovic batted down a long pass from Evan Fuller before corralling the puck and lifting a high wrist shot into the Silvertips net. The CN Centre was rocking as the Cougars led 3-1 after two periods. “We stuck to our game plan and that’s what we have been doing all the playoffs, we haven’t deviated from it and it has paid off,” said Cougars coach Drew Schoneck who praised the Cougars d-men for limiting  the second chances on Real Cyr who had another strong game between the Prince George pipes.  The Cougars momentum carried over to the third period thanks to a couple of text book two-on-one efforts. Drazenovic set up Evan Fuller to give the Cougars a 4-1 cushion at 4:57. Thirty two second later Devin Setoguchi faked a shot and fed Jared Walker for his second goal of the night. This one was well done in favour of the Cougars. Real Cyr made 27 saves for the Cats, Leland Irving turned aside 20 Prince George shots.

“I really thought, especially in the second period the Cougars played more desperate than us, Prince George played hard,” said Everett coach Kevin Constantine.

Schoneck credited the Cougars for elevating their game with the season ending loss of Captain Eric Hunter. After missing both games in Everett, Jordie Deagle battled through a wrist injury to return to the Prince George lineup.

Game Four goes Wednesday at 7PM at CN Centre.

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