puckmam
12-14-2007, 08:35 AM
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108290&Itemid=564
Cats fighting for their playoff lives already (0)
(Sports) Thursday, 13 December 2007, 21:21 PST
TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
Give the Prince George Cougars credit for something -- looking under every rock to find the positive sign in what has been, so far, a downer season.
The bright spot of the day is the health of the club, with nary a wounded body on the roster as the Cougars get set for the Kamloops Blazers, who are in town for a double-dip, tonight and Saturday. That health factor could be a major bonus for a Cats team that is nine points back of Kamloops for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
“This is probably the most important weekend of the season for us for a lot of reasons and Kamloops is a team we’ve had some success against,” said Cougars assistant coach Wade Klippenstein.
“We could be five points back of them going into Christmas. Considering the struggles we’ve had, that would still be pretty respectable and it would put us back in the mix again as far as playoffs.”
Injuries have decimated the Cats to the tune of 74 man-games lost to injury though 34 games. The worst of those were lengthy sick-bay visits for forward Dale Hunt (24 games), and defencemen Evan Fuller (16 games) and Jesse Dudas (10 games). All are back in the lineup, but they’re still not quite 100 per cent.
“The stars have to line up for us to be competitive, and when our stars are out of town or injured, it’s really hard,” said Klippenstein. “We’ve missed some key guys -- Dale Hunt was our leading scorer when he got hurt, Jesse Dudas was a big cog on our power play, and Evan Fuller is another leader we’ve missed.
“Those are all reasons but they’re not excuses. Without depth it becomes more of a problem than anyone else because we don’t have guys who can jump in those holes.”
The Cats (11-22-1-0) have won just two of their last 16 games. The Cougars need to use the roster advantage -- Kamloops is without import players Ivan Rohac and Juuso Puustinen, both of whom are away at national junior team camps -- to start the climb back into the race.
That might be the only positive spin to put on the task at hand. The coaching staff had a tough time finding anything good on the video of Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers, a game in which a rested home club was outshot 41-18 and was never really in the game against a Tigers squad that drove in through the night after playing Tuesday in Kamloops. If not for goalie Tommy Tartaglione playing one of his better games of the season, the score would not have been close.
“We have to take care of the puck, and Medicine Hat was a team that exposed us on our turnovers because they’re really quick in transition and that’s an area of great concern for us right now,” said Klippenstein. “We just have to be more careful with the puck and smarter with the puck in all zones.
“We’re sputtering offensively and we have a few guys who have fallen off the offensive radar. Alex Poulter is a guy who hasn’t scored in over a month. When our team was doing well (in October), winning hockey games and our power play was successful, Alex was scoring.
“We knew coming into the year what we lost, and the biggest void was going to be our offence.”
One factor that’s hurt the Cats’ bottom line lately has been special teams play. Power-play pointmen Jesse Dudas and Ty Wishart have been separated much of the season due to Dudas’s injuries. The Cougars still rank seventh in the WHL in power plays, working at a 20 per cent clip. Klippenstein believes that figure is about to improve now that both offensive-minded D-men are together again on special teams.
The Cats’ penalty-killing still ranks last in the 22-team league, operating at a 71.2 success rate, The good news is the past three games they’ve allowed just one power-play goal.
After this weekend, the Cats will have 12 days off for Christmas, returning to CN Centre Dec. 28-29 to face Chilliwack. With most of their games over the next month at home, the Cats now have a regular practice schedule which Klippenstein figures will help his team turn the corner.
n On-line video of Cougars game highlights will now be posted on The Citizen’s web site, www.princegeorgecitizen.com. The highlights from Wednesday’s game can be viewed now.
GAMEDAY BOX
PRINCE GEORGE -- D Ty Wishart and C Dana Tyrell are back tonight, released by the national junior team on Thursday... That leaves Dan Hamhuis as the last Cougar to make Team Canada. Andy Rogers and Devin Setoguchi are other Cougars who did not survive cut-down day in recent years... Tonight is a night to acknowledge longevity. Captain Greg Gardner played his 300th WHL game on Wednesday, a mark D Kalvin Sagert hit in Saturday’s game against Prince Albert. Gardner has played all his WHL games for the Cougars, while Sagert had stops in Kamloops and Lethbridge... The Cougars dropped to 5-9-1-0 at home with Wednesday’s lacklustre 3-1 loss to Medicine Hat, their fifth in a row... Tonight is also SPCA pet food and supplies donation night, while Saturday’s rematch with the Blazers is Teddy Bear Toss night... This is the first regular season visit of the season by the Blazers, who the Cougars took out in four games in last year’s opening round of the playoffs... A sweep of the weekend series will bring the Cats, ninth in the Western Conference, within five points of Kamloops for the final playoff spot. The Blazers hold a game in hand. The teams have split the season series so far, both games played in November in the desert... Prospects Brett Connolly and Nick Buonassisi, both forwards, made their debuts Wednesday. Expect to see Connolly and defenceman Bruin McDonald, another 15-year-old, to play tonight.
KAMLOOPS -- Team Turmoil struck again Thursday as an assistant coach left the club. Here’s the entire release to the public -- “Good morning. Andrew Milne has left the Kamloops Blazers effective immediately.† No further comment will be made at this time.” The Milne news has all the markings of a firing, and former player Steve Gainey will be helping new coach Greg Hawgood and assistant coach Shane Zulyniak on the bench this weekend... At the time Dean Clark was fired as coach and GM on Nov. 7, the Blazers were 6-9-1-1. They went on a 7-1-0-0 run after the move, but 2-5-0-0 since then and have lost three in a row, outscored 14-3... The Blazers haven’t put a GM in place since Clark was turfed... Before a 3-1 loss at home to Medicine Hat on Tuesday, the last Blazers game was a 7-1 loss in Vancouver on Sunday, a game in which they surrendered five power-play goals. Over the last eight games, the Blazers have surrendered 17 PPG on 54 shortages, for 68.5 per cent -- sound familiar, Cougar fans?... C Scott Wasden, acquired from Medicine Hat, has four goals in seven games as a Blazer... Kamloops was going to summon 15-year-old product C Brendan Ranford, the nephew of ex-Oilers goalie Bill Ranford, for this weekend series, but have changed course. Ranford was the 15th-overall choice in the 2007 bantam draft, and is from Edmonton, leading the Alberta midget league in scoring... The Blazers won’t have imports Ivan Rohac (Slovakia) or Juuso Puustinen (Finland) in the lineup, both are with their respective national junior teams.... C Jimmy Bubnick has been working through a sore shoulder.
Big hill to climb
Cats fighting for their playoff lives already (0)
(Sports) Thursday, 13 December 2007, 21:21 PST
TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
Give the Prince George Cougars credit for something -- looking under every rock to find the positive sign in what has been, so far, a downer season.
The bright spot of the day is the health of the club, with nary a wounded body on the roster as the Cougars get set for the Kamloops Blazers, who are in town for a double-dip, tonight and Saturday. That health factor could be a major bonus for a Cats team that is nine points back of Kamloops for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
“This is probably the most important weekend of the season for us for a lot of reasons and Kamloops is a team we’ve had some success against,” said Cougars assistant coach Wade Klippenstein.
“We could be five points back of them going into Christmas. Considering the struggles we’ve had, that would still be pretty respectable and it would put us back in the mix again as far as playoffs.”
Injuries have decimated the Cats to the tune of 74 man-games lost to injury though 34 games. The worst of those were lengthy sick-bay visits for forward Dale Hunt (24 games), and defencemen Evan Fuller (16 games) and Jesse Dudas (10 games). All are back in the lineup, but they’re still not quite 100 per cent.
“The stars have to line up for us to be competitive, and when our stars are out of town or injured, it’s really hard,” said Klippenstein. “We’ve missed some key guys -- Dale Hunt was our leading scorer when he got hurt, Jesse Dudas was a big cog on our power play, and Evan Fuller is another leader we’ve missed.
“Those are all reasons but they’re not excuses. Without depth it becomes more of a problem than anyone else because we don’t have guys who can jump in those holes.”
The Cats (11-22-1-0) have won just two of their last 16 games. The Cougars need to use the roster advantage -- Kamloops is without import players Ivan Rohac and Juuso Puustinen, both of whom are away at national junior team camps -- to start the climb back into the race.
That might be the only positive spin to put on the task at hand. The coaching staff had a tough time finding anything good on the video of Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers, a game in which a rested home club was outshot 41-18 and was never really in the game against a Tigers squad that drove in through the night after playing Tuesday in Kamloops. If not for goalie Tommy Tartaglione playing one of his better games of the season, the score would not have been close.
“We have to take care of the puck, and Medicine Hat was a team that exposed us on our turnovers because they’re really quick in transition and that’s an area of great concern for us right now,” said Klippenstein. “We just have to be more careful with the puck and smarter with the puck in all zones.
“We’re sputtering offensively and we have a few guys who have fallen off the offensive radar. Alex Poulter is a guy who hasn’t scored in over a month. When our team was doing well (in October), winning hockey games and our power play was successful, Alex was scoring.
“We knew coming into the year what we lost, and the biggest void was going to be our offence.”
One factor that’s hurt the Cats’ bottom line lately has been special teams play. Power-play pointmen Jesse Dudas and Ty Wishart have been separated much of the season due to Dudas’s injuries. The Cougars still rank seventh in the WHL in power plays, working at a 20 per cent clip. Klippenstein believes that figure is about to improve now that both offensive-minded D-men are together again on special teams.
The Cats’ penalty-killing still ranks last in the 22-team league, operating at a 71.2 success rate, The good news is the past three games they’ve allowed just one power-play goal.
After this weekend, the Cats will have 12 days off for Christmas, returning to CN Centre Dec. 28-29 to face Chilliwack. With most of their games over the next month at home, the Cats now have a regular practice schedule which Klippenstein figures will help his team turn the corner.
n On-line video of Cougars game highlights will now be posted on The Citizen’s web site, www.princegeorgecitizen.com. The highlights from Wednesday’s game can be viewed now.
GAMEDAY BOX
PRINCE GEORGE -- D Ty Wishart and C Dana Tyrell are back tonight, released by the national junior team on Thursday... That leaves Dan Hamhuis as the last Cougar to make Team Canada. Andy Rogers and Devin Setoguchi are other Cougars who did not survive cut-down day in recent years... Tonight is a night to acknowledge longevity. Captain Greg Gardner played his 300th WHL game on Wednesday, a mark D Kalvin Sagert hit in Saturday’s game against Prince Albert. Gardner has played all his WHL games for the Cougars, while Sagert had stops in Kamloops and Lethbridge... The Cougars dropped to 5-9-1-0 at home with Wednesday’s lacklustre 3-1 loss to Medicine Hat, their fifth in a row... Tonight is also SPCA pet food and supplies donation night, while Saturday’s rematch with the Blazers is Teddy Bear Toss night... This is the first regular season visit of the season by the Blazers, who the Cougars took out in four games in last year’s opening round of the playoffs... A sweep of the weekend series will bring the Cats, ninth in the Western Conference, within five points of Kamloops for the final playoff spot. The Blazers hold a game in hand. The teams have split the season series so far, both games played in November in the desert... Prospects Brett Connolly and Nick Buonassisi, both forwards, made their debuts Wednesday. Expect to see Connolly and defenceman Bruin McDonald, another 15-year-old, to play tonight.
KAMLOOPS -- Team Turmoil struck again Thursday as an assistant coach left the club. Here’s the entire release to the public -- “Good morning. Andrew Milne has left the Kamloops Blazers effective immediately.† No further comment will be made at this time.” The Milne news has all the markings of a firing, and former player Steve Gainey will be helping new coach Greg Hawgood and assistant coach Shane Zulyniak on the bench this weekend... At the time Dean Clark was fired as coach and GM on Nov. 7, the Blazers were 6-9-1-1. They went on a 7-1-0-0 run after the move, but 2-5-0-0 since then and have lost three in a row, outscored 14-3... The Blazers haven’t put a GM in place since Clark was turfed... Before a 3-1 loss at home to Medicine Hat on Tuesday, the last Blazers game was a 7-1 loss in Vancouver on Sunday, a game in which they surrendered five power-play goals. Over the last eight games, the Blazers have surrendered 17 PPG on 54 shortages, for 68.5 per cent -- sound familiar, Cougar fans?... C Scott Wasden, acquired from Medicine Hat, has four goals in seven games as a Blazer... Kamloops was going to summon 15-year-old product C Brendan Ranford, the nephew of ex-Oilers goalie Bill Ranford, for this weekend series, but have changed course. Ranford was the 15th-overall choice in the 2007 bantam draft, and is from Edmonton, leading the Alberta midget league in scoring... The Blazers won’t have imports Ivan Rohac (Slovakia) or Juuso Puustinen (Finland) in the lineup, both are with their respective national junior teams.... C Jimmy Bubnick has been working through a sore shoulder.
Big hill to climb