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Prince George Cougars wrangling for a win on Alberta road trip

Cats face-off in Calgary tonight, Red Deer Saturday, Edmonton Sunday
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Captain Josh Curtis (#10) in action at the CN Centre (via Prince George Cougars/James Doyle Photography)

Let’s face facts, losing is not fun.

The Prince George Cougars are hoping a change of scenery (and time zone) can help turn the tides around as they currently take a four-game losing streak into Alberta this weekend.

Now, the Cats do have a winning record in our neighbouring province over the last two-and-a-half seasons, standing at 8-4-0-2.

Right now, Prince George need all but one win to get them back into a wild-card playoff position, but they’ll need to keep winning in order to hold onto it with Kamloops and Seattle lurking about.

Can they get back into the win column? Let’s look at this weekend’s competition.

The team squares up in Calgary tonight, 6 p.m. Pacific, where Prince George has only cultivated one win in that barn in the last two seasons.

In the last five years at the Saddledome, the Cougars are 1-1-1-1.

The Hitmen are second last in the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Central Division, with a record of 21-19-3-1, and are holding onto the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

They also have the fourth-best power-play unit in the WHL, averaging at 25.5 per cent.

CALGARY’S TOP FIVE

  • Mark Kastelic = 47 points (29 goals, 18 assists)
  • Jake Kryski = 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists)
  • James Malm = 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists)
  • Egor Zamula = 39 points (nine goals, 30 assists)
  • Kaden Elder = 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists)
 

On Saturday (Jan. 26), Prince George travels to Red Deer to take on the Rebels; puck-drop also goes for 6 p.m. Pacific time.

The Rebels have found ways to out-pace the Cougars at the ENMAX Centre recently, leading to a 1-2 in the last five years.

They are led on the scoresheet by Brandon Hagel, posting a remarkable 70 points in 43 games, the fifth most in the WHL.

Red Deer is in a very tight race for the Central division crown, one point back of first place with a record of 27-14-2-1 backed by veteran Head Coach Brent Sutter.

Whether he plays or not, this will be goaltender Taylor Gauthier’s return to Red Deer since competing at the 2019 CHL-NHL Prospects Game earlier this week.

RED DEER’S TOP FIVE

  • Brandon Hagel = 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists)
  • Reese Johnson = 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists)
  • Brett Davis = 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists)
  • Alexander Alexeyev = 37 points (seven goals, 30 assists)
  • Jeff De Wit = 36 points (24 goals, 12 assists)
 

Finally, Prince George will bus further north to Alberta’s capital city to take on the Central Division-leading Edmonton Oil Kings.

Again, they are sitting at the top with a record of 25-14-4-4, but only one point separates them from second and two from fourth place.

The Cougars look to spoil the party having found success at Rogers Place with two wins in their last three visits.

Forward Trey Fix-Wolansky boasts 76 points in 45 games in the season thus far, which is tied for the second among WHL skaters.

Edmonton is 6-2-0-2 in their last 10 games and are in the middle of a four-game homestand; puck-drop is 3 p.m. Pacific against the Cougars Sunday afternoon (Jan. 27).

EDMONTON’S TOP FIVE

  • Trey Fix-Wolansky = 76 points (25 goals, 51 assists)
  • Vince Loschiavo = 40 points (21 goals, 19 assists)
  • Quinn Benjafield = 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists)
  • Carter Souch = 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists)
  • Andrew Fyten = 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists)