“We’re ready”: Cougars prepared for opening-round series against Portland

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Five years later, the Cougars are taking on the Portland once again in the opening round as the 6th seeded team in the Western Conference following a 24-39-4-1 record.

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General manager and head coach, Mark Lamb, has said while this team doesn’t have any experience in the playoffs, they have plenty of experience overcoming adversity.

No player on the roster has ever played in a postseason in the WHL. Captain Jonny Hooker’s Brandon Wheat Kings did make the playoffs in 2017-18, but Hooker was injured.

But if the Cougars rebuilding their way back into the playoffs after a five year hiatus wasn’t a big enough storyline, look no further than who they’ll be facing between the pipes in the series versus Portland.

Taylor Gauthier was drafted by the Cougars 10th overall in the 2016 WHL Draft. He joined the team in 2017 and spent the next five seasons being the face of the club before being traded in late December.

Gauthier compiled a career 53-87-8-8 record with the Cougars, while posting a 3.19 GAA, .906 SV% and six shutouts before joining the Winterhawks.

Since joining the Winterhawks, he’s gone 24-4 and has beeing playing with a 2:16 GAA and a .931 SV%, while nearly matching his career shutout total with four while in Portland.

It’s a matchup Cougars’ fifth-year Connor Bowie is excited for. Bowie was acquired from Portland in January 2018 as a 16-year-old.

Being in Prince George for the duration that he has, witnessing the rebuild, and finally clinching the playoffs; Bowie has long-maintained a return to the playoffs would be not only big for himself, but also for the city as well.

“Obviously this is huge for everybody,” he said on Tuesday.

And he believes the storyline including his former teammate in Gauthier just adds to the experience.

“There’s no better story for that,” he said. “I think it’s a great thing.”

Jonas Brøndberg, who was acquired by the Cougars in the Gauthier trade, has also never played a playoff game.

“I’m super excited To finally get my playoff games in,” explained the 21-year old. “I’m excited to go down to Portland, my old team, and try to beat them and move onto the next round.”

After practicing Monday and Tuesday, the Cougars travelled down to Portland on Wednesday, giving them a full day to practice on Thursday ahead of Game 1 on Friday.

“The team is doing really well. We’ve had two good practice days and we’re ready,” said Brondberg prior to departing for Portland.

Game 1 of the series will be played from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The series will shift back to Prince George following Game 2, with Games 3 and 4 begin played at the CN Centre Tuesday and Wednesday.