Courtesy: CHL TV

By Anthony Corea

PLAYOFF PREVIEW

Playoff Preview: Cougars take on Thunderbirds

Apr 14, 2023 | 4:36 PM

PRINCE GEORGE– The Prince George Cougars fought tooth and nail to win 6 games against the Tri-City Americans and advance to the 2nd round of the WHL Playoffs. Their reward? A matchup with one of the best teams in all of Junior Hockey the Seattle Thunderbirds.

With ten players on the T-Birds roster drafted into the NHL and six players from this year’s Team Canada championship roster at the World Juniors, it will be one of the toughest tests for the Cougars all year. But for players in the locker room, it’s not listening to the outside noise and preparing like any other series.

“I think it’s just about not giving them too much respect. They have a lot of publicity this year the with the players they have. But, we’re not taking a backseat to anyone. And with our group in there, we can compete with any team any night.” – Jaxsen Wiebe, Cougars Forward

A huge step in winning this series is getting off to a good start. It begins with heading down to Kent Washington for games 1 and 2 and playing in front of a hostile crowd. Something the Cougars did winning two times in Tri-City and will look to do Friday and Saturday again.

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“We’re going to have to go in there and execute our game really well and that’s going to be a really big challenge for us. But I think it’s one that we can handle as a team.” – Hudson Thornton, Cougars Defenseman

And despite Seattle heading all the way to the WHL final last year the Cougars have their own playoff experience, even if the 2nd round is a new environment for the team.

“For the most part, this group is got experience from last year. Now experience in this first round. Never having moved on before, so now it’s a new experience for all these guys.” –Mark Lamb, Head Coach