In the annals of history, January, 2008, may go down, as the worst (results) month ever, for the Prince George Cougars.  Thank goodness for the team that this month is over. 

Not only did the Cats lose 12 of 13 in January, but their effort left little to be desired. In fact, their only victory was against lowly Portland, who incidentally, defeated the Cats twice.

Overall, last month, the Cats were outscored 70-23. They suffered their worst home ice loss ever, 11-1, to Kelowna, and later fell 6-0 at home to Everett in the first of the double-header. Things may have hit rock bottom in their last game, a 9-0 setback to Lethbridge, where the players seemed to quit late in the game. Yes, that is right the Cougars were outscored 26-1 in these three home games.

In some of the Cougar losses they were so embarrassed that I am surprised that some of the dwindling fan base didn’t show up wearing paper bags.

The Cats may be young, with no expectations of winning, but these results clearly indicate that too many players are not giving a full effort, and when this happens, it may be impossible to stop the slide.

Coach Drew Schoneck blasted his players (rightfully so) for approximately 25 minutes after the Hurricanes blowout. He obviously was disturbed by his team’s lack of battle.

“Our guys have to understand that there’s a difference between playing hard and playing stupid and taking bad penalties, a cross check maybe to a guy’s back isn’t necessarily playing hard, that might be playing stupid. Playing hard is fighting through a check to get to a goal, coming hard on the back check when your legs are burning or getting knocked off the puck and getting back up and getting it back. That’s playing hard and I think we have a misconception of what playing hard actually is. We have addressed that and were going to work on that.”

The Cougars still have to play 13 games in February, and 8 more in March. In this time, Schoneck has to find a way to keep his troops motivated since playoff hopes have disappeared. After all, the coach can only tell the players so many times they are playing for next season's jobs.  Schoneck says, “With the young group you are going to go through the ups and downs and we understand that. We understand where we are in the process, but you still have to come out and want to win loose pucks and want to score goals, and how you do that you have to have the puck, and how you do that you have to fight for it, and right now I just don’t think we have enough guys really really really deep down inside wanting that puck.”

It’s not a lot of fun when you are the butt of jokes in your own city, and around the league, but when you have a measly five wins in your last 33 games, this will happen.

“The biggest thing you want to stress is don’t let losing tear you apart and sometimes losing can do that because it’s easy to be negative and easy to point fingers at this guy and that guy and this guy over here, but at the end of the day everybody’s in it together and that’s right from the coaching staff to the players”, said Schoneck.

10 of the last 21 games are at home. The Cougars likely won't win many of these contests; however,
the debacle of January can not be tolerated.  PG hockey fans understand a hard working team. Unfortunately, in recent times, this hasn’t been the case, at the CN Centre. This needs to change because the alternative won’t be pleasant.

From the quote rack:

European Tour chief George O'Grady on why Tiger Woods (already with 62 PGA wins) is the only golfer that needs a drug test.

“A study has determined on an average day 100 million people are having sex. The amount lowers drastically during heat waves and reaches a peak during the NBA All Star Game.”

Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgary (http://smacksport.blogspot.com/)

Comedy writer Janice Hough (www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com) of Palo Alto, California, on the Toronto Maple Leafs bringing back 72 year old Cliff Fletcher as their GM.

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

Comedian Argus Hamilton, on scalpers asking as much as 10 grand for a Super Bowl ticket.

And in case you missed it:

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle.

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