Junior hockey fans across Canada were hoping for good news sometime soon when it came to the WHL Playoffs. However, that news won’t come this season. The league has announced the cancellation of the playoffs, meaning no hockey will be played until the fall.
The Prince George Cougars weren’t heading to the playoffs after a regular-season that offered up just 48 points. However, it’s not like the Cougars were far from making the playoffs, they were just seven points back of Seattle for the final spot. The Cougars certainly have a lot to look forward to moving forward. They ended the season by winning their last three games. They also had seven rookies on their roster, one of which was Tyler Brennan who is expected to be an elite goaltender very soon. The team also only had three 1999-born players.
As we continue to wrap up another season here at the DUBNetwork, we’ll take a look at how Prince George has done on this day, March 23, over the past number of years.
March 23, 2001: Billy Thompson show
On the shot clock, Prince George was outplayed from start to finish as they met the Kamloops Blazers in their second last game of the season. Kamloops put up 50 shots, 21 of which came in the third period alone.
Billy Thompson had an out of this world game for Prince George as he made 47 saves in net. However, the Blazers had just enough to earn a 3-2 win, one that could have been much worse for Prince George if it weren’t for the play of Thompson.
It also looked like Prince George was about to earn a point. That is until Jonathan Hobson delivered a blow, a game-winning one at that. With just 12 seconds left while on the man advantage, Hobson beat Thompson to give the Blazers the full two points while Prince George got none.
Blake Robson and Nathan Brice scored Prince George’s goals; Konstantin Panov netted the other for Kamloops.
Both teams qualified for the playoffs that season, Prince George went 31-33-4 while Kamloops went 35-28-2. Prince George lost in six games in the playoffs, Kamloops was swept.
March 23, 2002: Playoff time
The Prince George Cougars and Kootenay Ice played along, thrilling series for fans and a grueling one for players. This series went the distance with Kootenay getting the edge in game seven on home ice.
The Cougars did start the series on the right foot; however. Backed by two goals from Mike Wirll, the Cougars took down Kootenay, 4-1.
Dan Baum and Aaron Foster scored singles, Tomas Plihal responded for Kootenay. Once again, Billy Thompson was a brick wall for Prince George as he made 40 saves in net.
In the end, it wasn’t to be for the Cougars though, as they were bounced six games later.
March 23, 2003: Let’s do this again, playoffs 2.0
Prince George was in extremely tough in the first round of the playoffs as they went up against Seattle. The Thunderbirds went 44-22-3 in the regular season. Prince George on the other hand, went 26-41-2.
In all but one game, Seattle was far too much for Prince George as they took the series in five games.
In Game 1, four different T-Birds scored in a 4-1 win. Seattle also outshot Prince George, 51-20. Billy Thompson made 47 saves. If you’ve noticed his name a lot, that’s because some of his games were outrageously good during the early 2000s. Stay tuned for a full feature on Billy in the near future.
Seattle went on to win three of the next four games to move onto the second round. Seattle ended up losing to Kelowna in five games in the Western Conference final. Kelowna beat Red Deer in six games to claim the WHL title.
March 23, 2007: Third times a charm?
In the above two playoff series, Prince George didn’t have enough in the first round to advance. During the 2007 playoffs, Prince George did just that in the first round of the playoffs and they did so in just four games, completing a clean sweep against Kamloops.
On this day in 2007, Prince George used a goal from Nick Drazenovic in overtime to take a 1-0 series lead with a 3-2 win. Kamloops would outshoot the Cougars, 37-18; however, Real Cyr was solid as he made 35 saves.
Prince George would win two more games in overtime and one in regulation time to complete the sweep and move to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in the 2000s.
The Cougars then skated past Everett in six games in the Conference Semi-final. The Vancouver Giants would end up breaking their hearts in the next round as they took down Prince George in six games.
Vancouver would lose an absolute heartbreaker in game seven of the WHL final. Playing against Medicine Hat, the Tigers downed Vancouver in double-overtime, 3-2.
What’s next for Prince George?
Stay tuned for that as Darnell Duff will wrap up the season in the coming days as Prince George prepares for the 2020-21 season. If it’s anything like how the team ended this one, Cougars fans could be in for a treat.
