Along with the thousands of Prince George Cougars fans who be at a local bar or glued to their computer screens on Thursday, expect a few ghosts from the infamous 2016-17 post season roster to be hanging around in spirit as well.
For the first time this postseason, the Cougars are facing elimination after the tantalizing trio Nate Danielson, Marcus Nguyen and Jack O’Brien tapped danced their way to a three-goal, six-assist performance enroute to a 5-2 Portland Winterhawks victory on Wednesday in front of 5,769 fans from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Winterhawks lead the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series 3-1.
Once again, Portland would get the jump on PG in the opening period as Gabe Klassen roofed a wrist-shot over the shoulder of Ty Young.
This snipe from Gabe Klassen is otherworldly!🤯@pdxwinterhawks | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingtheFuture pic.twitter.com/nZiWbekT0S
— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 2, 2024
Six minutes later, a Josh Zakreski wrap-around rush allowed Diego Buttazoni to sneak in and chip a puck past a sprawled-out Young who nearly committed highway robbery on the Winterhawks forward.
The Cougars found their skating legs in the second period generating the vast majority of the chances but not able to consistently beat Portland netminder Jan Spunar.
On one play, Koehn Ziemmer was sprung on clear-cut breakaway only to be turned aside by the 19-year-old from Czechia.
Hudson Thornton provided the ice breaker for PG on the power-play as his point shot whistled past Spunar trimming the deficit to 2-1.
Captain Hudson Thornton gets the @PGCougars on the board in the second frame!#WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingtheFuture pic.twitter.com/dm3rQKjtIb
— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 2, 2024
However, the Nguyen’s mastery of the Cougars would rear its ugly head prior to the intermission as a scramble deep in the defensive zone allowed the Calgary product to bury a loose puck past a sprawled-out Keaton Dowhaniuk.
Nguyen would strike again at 5:38 of the third as the Hawks came in on a 3-on-1 led by Danielson who collected his ninth assist of the series.
Thornton provided some faint hope for the Cougars once again on the man-advantage beating Spunar glove side on the power-play to make it a 4-2 game.
Danielson brought the curtain closer tapping home a loose rebound on a drive to the goal by Jack O’Brien forcing Young to spit out the rebound.
Nate Danielson at the Western Conference Championship: 10 points (1G-9A) in 4 games!
The @DetroitRedWings got a special one.@pdxwinterhawks | #WHLPlayoffs | #LGRW pic.twitter.com/ogVVN1mOkz
— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 2, 2024
The Winterhawks outshot PG 39-28 overall and went 1-for-4 on the power-play while the Cougars were 2-for-3.
Young looked sharp in the visiting goal despite giving up five markers on 39 Portland attempts. Spunar was a tad cleaner allowing two goals on 28 Cougar shots.
PG was without rookie sniper Terik Parascak due to injury while Hunter Laing also came out – both of them were replaced by Nick McLennan and rookie AP Lee Shurgot.
Shurgot, the Cougars first round draft pick in 2022 tallied one assist in 20 games during the regular season before lighting it up for the Saskatoon Blazers in the Saskatchewan U18 AAA league recording 50 points in 31 games.
Winterhawks defenceman Luca Cagnoni failed to suit up for the third time this series due to injury, leading to head coach Mike Johnston to re-insert Alex Thompson into the lineup who played sparingly.
With their backs up against the wall, past playoff history is not on the Cougars side against the Winterhawks.
Portland finished off the heavily favoured Cougars in six games during the 2017 WHL Playoffs – a roster that featured Jansen Harkins, Jesse Gabrielle, Ty Edmonds, Brendan Guhle, Jared Bethune and Josh Anderson just to name a few.
Fast forward five years later (2022), and the Winterhawks again dispatched PG from post-season play – this time it would only take the minimum of four games with ex-Cougar goalie coming back to beat his old team. Eighteen players from both teams in that series are again butting heads in 2024.
Game Five is set for tomorrow night at 7pm from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
A Cougars win would force Game Six that would be slated for Monday at CN Centre.
In the Eastern Conference Final, Egor Sidarov scored 3:29 into overtime to give the Saskatoon Blades a 5-4 overtime victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors to even up the series at 2-2.
Three of the first four contests have gone to extra time with Saskatoon winning twice while the Warriors claimed Game One in sudden death.
Game Five is slated for Friday from Sasktel Centre – both teams will then head back to the Friendly City for a Sunday matinee (1pm Pacific) from the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Nashville Predators signed first-rounder Tanner Molendyk of McBride and Fort St. John goaltender Evan Gardner both play for the Blades. Ethan Semeniuk, also out of Fort St. John, is the lone northern BC boy on the Warriors.