by TED CLARKE - Prince George Citizen

It‘s all over for the Prince George Cougars.

The team that became a mid-season division leader after two seasons as a basement dweller suffered the cruelest of playoff fates on Wednesday night at CN Centre, swept in four straight games with a 4-2 loss to the Kelowna Rockets. This game, like the previous three, was closely contested.

Everybody knew the Cats‘ chances of a series comeback were hanging by a thread and the Rockets came armed with their scissors. The B.C. Division regular-season champions looked the part in exposing a Cougars‘ team that was, for the most part, devoid of WHL playoff experience.

The Cougars were without three of their best offensive players - Brett Connolly, Charles Inglis and Nick Buonassisi - who all watched the game from seats atop Section N. Their teammates desperately missed them, and with the season on the line, the healthy Cats couldn‘t come up with a way to force a fifth game on Friday in Kelowna.

Connolly, who led the Cats with 46 goals and 73 points, suffered a separated shoulder two shifts into Game 1 of the series last Friday in Kelowna. Inglis and Buonassisi, who both played the first three games, were scratched Wednesday, listed with day-to-day upper-body injuries.

With those guys out of the way, the Rockets struck first, nine minutes into the game. Zak Stebner had an empty cage to shoot at as he cruised in from his point position to snap in Mitch Callahan‘s goalmouth feed. The goal came with Wilson Dumais cooling his heels in the penalty box to serve a foolish charging penalty.

Unlike the frenetic pace of Game 3 on Tuesday - a barnburner that ended in a 7-6 Rockets‘ win - both teams took few chances and struggled to create offence in Game 4.

Damon Severson put another damper on the crowd of 2,346 when he picked off Martin Marincin‘s clearing attempt off the boards and launched a high floater that got past the glove hand of Ty Rimmer 3:27 into the second period.

The Cougars finally broke through gathering clouds of elimination with a power-play goal midway through the middle frame. Sena Acolatse‘s ripper from the blue-line struck the back of the net, putting a puck-sized dent in Adam Brown‘s water bottle, with two Rockets in the box.

Down 2-1, the Cougars appeared to have tied it with three minutes gone in the third. However, the goal by James Dobrowolski was waived off by referee Derek Zalaski, who ruled Taylor Stefishen was in the crease. Seconds later, Shane McColgan broke down the ice, got his own rebound and and put it through the legs of Rimmer.

Rookie Alex Forsberg notched his first WHL goal with a short chip shot from the slot that gave the Cougars faint hope at 8:15 of the third. But the Rockets put it away two minutes later, a result of a poor clearing attempt from defenceman Shane Pilling. His teammates were late arriving to pick up their checks, which gave McColgan all the time he needed to bury it on his third chop at the loose puck from the side of the net.

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