Blazers in town to test youthful Cougars

It’s been three weeks since the Prince George Cougars dressed for a home game at CN Centre and tonight against the Kamloops Blazers the Cougars will be a lunch bucket crew, decked out in their plaid workmanlike duds.

It’s Lumberjack Night and the Cougars will be wearing special jerseys to be given away to fans at the end of the game. They might look different on the ice but the goal remains the same – play winning hockey.

The Cats didn’t do much of that on their East Division road swing. They won just one of six games (in Brandon) and took just three of a possible 12 points.

Just 18 games are left on the Cougars’ schedule and the rebuild that started in January when they unloaded a handful of their mostcoveted veterans will likely mean they will continue to take their lumps, dressing what has to rate as the youngest lineup in the Western Hockey League. —

Winnipeg had a chance to force overtime but the T-wolves played it tough on defence and a pass attempt to Sean Tarver went out of bounds. The Wesmen were forced to foul the Timberwolves with five seconds left, and Jovan Leamy hit one of his two foul shots and Winnipeg was unable to get close with its buzzer-beater.

“I just thought we were mentally tougher,” said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan, who shook hands after the game with Wesmen coach Mike Raimbault, who coached at UNBC 10 years ago, while Jordan was an assistant.

“Five minutes left I think we were down by six and we just kept chipping away and got stops and found enough buckets to win the basketball game. We just showed some resiliency down the stretch and didn’t give up on ourselves.

“It’s not always pretty when you get a win on the road but it was a gritty win for the guys, I’m proud of them.”

Leamy, a fourth-year recruit from Ontario, delivered a standout effort in his first Canada West playoff game, putting up a game-high 18 points. He also had nine rebounds and four blocked shots. His free throw at the end capped the scoring, giving UNBC a threepoint lead. Vova Pluzhnikov finished with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds and Loukas had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Narcisse Ambanza led the Wesmen with 15 points, Billy Yaworsky had 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Tarver collected 12 points and 13 rebounds.

UNBC was down 43-39 at the half and 52-48 after three quarters. Both teams struggled offensively in the fourth quarter but UNBC found its rhythm when it counted most, outscoring the Wesmen 13-6 in the final 10 minutes.

“It was an up an up-and-down game and it was really loose for the first three quarters,” said Jordan. “It seemed one team would make a run and then the other team would make a run, and what it came down to at the end of the game was we just did a great job locking up the game defensively. “Vagellis made a couple of huge free throws down the stretch and it was great to see our defence hold us in and win us that basketball game in the fourth quarter.”

Both teams finished the season with 10-10 records. Winnipeg was awarded the higher seed over the 10th-ranked T-wolves based on the ratings performance index (RPI), a reflection of the quality of its Canada West opponents during the season.

With their victory, the Twolves advance to the Canada West quarterfinal round against the top-seeded Alberta Golden Bears.

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They’ll take on the Bears (19-1) in a best-of-three series which starts Friday in Edmonton. That game will start at 2 p.m. PT. The only blemish on the Golden Bears’ record came on Dec. 2 in Edmonton when they lost 92-83 to Victoria.

UNBC did not play Alberta in the regular season.

“They’re loaded with talent and we’re going into that as pretty heavy underdogs and we just have to go in and compete and see what kind of noise we can make,” said Jordan. “We return everybody except Marcus (MacKay) and Dan (Stark) next season and those moments of playing in big games are invaluable going into next year when we will have a veteran-laden squad. That experience, win or lose, it going to be big for our program.”

There was no happy ending for the UNBC women in their playoff game earlier Thursday against the Wesmen in Winnipeg. They lost 82-65 and the Twolves’ season is over.

UNBC trailed 41-32 at halftime. A 9-0 run in the third quarter put the Wesmen ahead 51-42 but the T-wolves reduced the gap and trailed by only three, down 60-57 heading into the fourth quarter. Winnipeg outscored the T-wolves 25-15 in the final 10 minutes to lock up the win.

Faith Hezekiah and Antoinette Miller each were deadly from long range and both Wesmen shooters finished with 24 points. Hezekiah led Winnipeg with 12 rebounds and Miller picked up five assists.

Maria Mongomo did her job offensively for UNBC, collecting 23 points. Vasiliki Louka was tough on the boards, as usual, and picked up a game-high 19 rebounds. The fourth-year post also drew three assists.

Winnipeg finished the season with a 15-6 record while UNBC was 9-11. The Wesmen drew the No. 7 seed based on their RPI rating and the T-wolves were ranked 11th after claiming their second-consecutive playoff berth.

This was the first year in which both UNBC basketball teams made the playoffs.

Winnipeg outscored the T-wolves 25-15 in the final 10 minutes to lock up the win.