Cougars end lengthy losing streak
(Sports) Sunday, 17 February 2008, 23:24 PST
JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor
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Put the unlucky numbers 7 and 13 to bed.
Replace them with 50, 326, and 1. Today, the 1 might grow to 2.
The Prince George Cougars snapped a seven-game losing streak, and a winless slide of 13 straight on the road, with Saturday’s 5-4 victory over the host Chilliwack Bruins.
The triumph was a tribute to veterans. Real Cyr stopped 38 shots for his 50th win in the WHL -- he’s 9-23-3 in his final season as a Cat -- and Greg Gardner, playing in his 326th regular-season game, had a goal and two assists. With a dozen games to go, Gardner is 10 games back of Chris Falloon’s franchise record of 336 games -- Gardner passed Eric Hunter (323 games) for second all-time when the Cougars lost 4-2 on home ice to the Bruins last Wednesday.
“That was one of Gardner’s best games,” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck.
“As a team, we played well. They stormed us early on and we knew they would. I’m proud of our guys, they’ve been great through (the losing streak). There is a difference between losing, and losing in a way where you didn’t compete. For the first couple games after the trade deadline we had games where we lost because we didn’t compete at all, but that hasn’t been the case lately.”
Nick Holden, who had two goals, opened the scoring, but the Cougars bounced back to lead after 20 minutes on goals by Brad Riege and Jordie Deagle -- the latter with his third of the season and first since Oct. 20.
The Cougars also outscored the Bruins 2-1 in the second period, giving up a game-tying marker to Jaden Potter before Parker Stanfield -- he has four goals in as many games -- and Gardner gave the Cats a two-goal lead heading to the third.
Holden made it a one-goal game at 5:43 of the final period. Dana Tyrell’s 23rd of the season restored the cushion at 11:03, an important goal because Randy McNaught scored with 3:57 to play.
Cyr held the fort in the final minutes. He had to be sharp, facing 19 shots in the last period.
“He made key saves -- he stopped Ryan Howse on a penalty shot and Oscar Moller on a breakaway,” said Schoneck, noting the pressure is off Cyr because he knows he’ll be in goal as long as Ian Curtis (shoulder) is out of action.
“Those were big. Other than that, he was just regular Real, made the first save and gave us a chance to win. He knows he’s going to play and I think he’s relaxed. He’s more back to the Real we saw last year on a day-to-day basis, and he’s finally got himself outside of his own head.”
Schoneck is happy to finally see results from the hard work this team, the youngest in the WHL, has been putting in since the trade deadline five weeks ago.
“I’m happy for our guys that they played well and finally got a win for it,” said Schoneck.
“We needed to win a close one. It’s been a tough go recently, sure. I’ve tried to look at it not from my side of things, but from the players’ perspective -- how a player would view (the struggles). We preach a plan, hard work, shoot pucks and stay out of the box, and we’ve been slowly doing that more consistently the last three weeks and hadn’t seen any results.
“It’s only natural to start to question if that’s the right thing to do, but for the players it’s nice to finally see that come through. God bless this group, they’re resilient, and they see the improvement we’re making as a team.”
The Cougars have a chance to increase their one-game winning streak to two today with a rare afternoon contest. The Cats (16-40-1-3) are in Portland for a President’s Day matinee, facing the only WHL club with a worse record.
“We have an opportunity to continue how we played Saturday, and we consider this a very winable game,” said Schoneck, whose team is 1-2 against the Hawks (9-49-1-1) this season.
“I’m sure (Portland) has this date circled as well. I’m sure they’re going to want to come after us, but I like the way our guys are going right now.”
Portland’s last win? Try Jan. 16, a 3-2 shootout victory at CN Centre.
The Cougars, who could wind up with the second-worst record in team history, are still clinging to faint but unrealistic hopes of a playoff berth. With a dozen games to go, Prince George could still catch either Kamloops or Chilliwack, but would have to win every remaining game while one of those teams loses all their games. Kamloops lost twice on the weekend, while the Bruins dropped a 5-0 game in Vancouver on Sunday -- the Giants are 7-0-1-1 in that head-to-head series.
After today’s game, the Cougars’ road trip ends with a Wednesday stop in Seattle. The Cats are home to Edmonton, the first visit of the expansion Oil Kings, on Friday.
n Schoneck had high praise for 15-year-old prospect Greg Fraser, who made his debut with the Cougars in Friday’s loss in Vancouver. The Nanaimo product is playing major midget hockey for the North Island Silvertips, and despite being slight at five-foot-nine and 150 pounds, caught the coach’s eye.
“He was excellent,” said Schoneck.
“I was impressed with his maturity level, but I was also impressed with his positional play. I don’t know if that’s the coaching he’s had or if it’s something he takes pride in, for a young guy he was very good in his own zone. He blocked a shot in the third period, and did a lot of little things most young players don’t do. He also had our first scoring chance of the game, so he looked good in the offensive end.”
All-Star
Closet LEAF Fan?
Originally Posted by TwoBits
Everybody reading this must think we're nuts.
Pride
Swanson's Pushed the Button!
Besides, my favourite colour is red, so I'll keep cheering for the Cougars and the FLAMES!!! Why don't you have a little loyalty and cheer for a team in the west?
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