Hartley Miller's Slap-Shots October 12th Edition

By Hartley Miller

    Although seven games do not make a season, the early signs indicate that the Prince George Cougars are headed for one of their worst years in club history.

This is quite a statement, especially when one looks at the team’s unflattering past.

With a high turnover in players, from last season, and lack of foresight in building for the future, not much was expected from the Cougars.  Nevertheless, no one anticipated such a dreadful start. Moreover, the prospects for immediate improvement are a long shot, particularly as the team embarks on a six game prairie road trip.

The paltry 1-and-6 record is magnified when one considers the following:

• Six of the first seven games have been at home.
• The opposition has scored first in six of the seven.
• The Cats have trailed in all seven games.
• The Cougars have no free points for overtime or shootout losses as all of their defeats have been by more than one goal. (They have given up three empty net goals, but in two of those three games they were behind by two goals at the time of pulling the goalie for an extra attacker)
• The team has been outscored nearly two to one, with 36 goals (more than 5 per game) against and just 19 for.
• The Cats penalty kill rate is 71 per cent, (11 goals allowed in 38 opportunities) worst in the league. The power play is nothing to brag about either at 16 per cent (6 for 37).
• The Cougars have been out shot 255-170.

You get the picture.

Individually, it’s not pretty either. Leadership should start from the 20-year-olds.  Lack of production from the overage players is nothing short of embarrassing. Defenceman Kalvin Sagert, no points and a team worst minus 11. Captain Greg Gardner has five points but is second worst in the plus/minus department at minus 10. Some of the other so called leaders can’t be proud of their plus-minus figures with Jesse Dudas –9, Ty Wishart and Chris VanDuynhoven both –6 and Dana Tyrell –5 to name a few.  Head Coach Drew Schoneck tries to rationalize these efforts by saying, “We’re making mental mistakes and individual mistakes at the wrong times of the game and you’re going to go thru some of those growing pains with the kind of team we have, and little of bit of inexperience, but it’s not just our inexperienced guys that are doing it”.

And then there’s the mystery of Real Cyr. He was supposed to be a reason the team would win 2-1 and 3-2 games. He has started five games and been around for the finish in just two of them. His 1-4 record is overshadowed, with a 6.32 goals against average and a .833 save percentage. Not bad if you’re playing lacrosse.

Schoneck is a bit dumbfounded by the play of his overage goalie, but is also quick to defend him. “To lay fault with our goaltenders is unfair. Real was a guy who played real well for us last year and had a real good playoff. I think everyone expected him to follow that thru and for whatever reason he is fighting the puck a little bit and he’ll probably be the first guy to admit it, but he’s a competitor, he’s a warrior and he works very hard and he’ll get his game back.”

In fairness, the Cougars seven games have been against some of the WHL’s top clubs in Spokane (2), Tri-City (2), Chilliwack, Swift Current and Calgary. But that doesn’t mean when they start playing weaker teams that the two points will be a “gim-me”.

With 65 games left, it’s far too early to hit the proverbial panic button and declare a state of emergency, but the Cougars have dug themselves into a hole, and it is looking deeper and deeper each time out.

From the quote rack:

“What a weekend in Southern California - the Angels got swept by the Red Sox, UCLA lost to Notre Dame, and USC lost to STANFORD.  Los Angeles fans haven’t been so embarrassed since they had the Raiders.”Comedy writer Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California

“Marion Jones gave back her five medals on Monday after admitting she used performance-enhancing drugs on Friday. The reason for the delay is that the pawn shop was closed over the weekend”Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

“Pot, eh? My money was on Viagra.”Calgary comedian Jeff Funnekotter in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, on Denver Broncos’ running back Travis Henry (father to nine children by nine women) testing positive for pot.

“NBA rookie Greg Oden says despite his season ending injury he will be the best possible teammate by cheering, handing out towels and going to the Strip Club early to get the best after game seats.”Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgary (http://smacksport.blogspot.com/)

“$5,000 for every baby? That could bankrupt the NBA.”NBC’s Jay Leno, on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposing that $5,000 be given to every baby born in the United States.

And in case you missed it:

Plug your nose for this Headline in the Chicago Sun-Times, after four deer hunters filed a lawsuit claiming a manufacturer’s scent-masking clothing doesn’t work:

“Odor in the court?"

And how was your week?

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com

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