WELLLLLLLLLCOMEEEEEEE to the Officially Official Prince George Firebirds S33 Season Recap! Over the course of the next shit ton of words, we’ll take a game by game look at how the Firebirds faired in the most recent SMJHL season as well as discuss what the future holds for this storied franchise.

The Firebirds showed a lot of promise at the beginning of the season sporting arguably the best roster, top to bottom, in the SMJHL. They had a lot of high-end returning talent in players like Chris York, Caelen Fearghal, Tedors Cukurs, Teemu Sirius, ICH and Stephen Harris. Unfortunately the team was unable to get over the hump this season and fell to Kelowna in game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Ultimately while strides were made, chemistry was formed, and players were developed this season in Prince George, the season is less successful than both players and management had hoped it would be. However, not everything is doom and gloom as the Prince George Firebirds have two of the top three SMJHL rookies in the league on their roster returning next year in addition to a few other key SHL send downs, particularly goal-scoring phenom Chris York. Add all of that to a top three pick in this year’s SMJHL Entry Draft and you have a team with a great core that’s only going to get better. Without further ado, let’s start with the season recap!

Game 1: Prince George Firebirds @ Colorado Mammoths

The first game of the season for the Firebirds started out with a lot of promise. Caelan Fearghal opened the scoring at 14:52 in the first period with a blast from the point on the power play. That goal, assisted by Teodors Cukurs and Teemu Sirius came after a delay of game penalty taken by the Mammoths goalie Carter Fleury who flicked a puck over the glass despite not being under any pressure. Colorado equalized in the second period as Declan Reilly, a PGF rookie, took a boarding penalty at around thirteen minutes into the second. Lots of silly penalties being taken here as both teams look to shake off the rust of a long offseason. Colorado made no mistake here as Teddy Kesler poked it home just ten seconds into the power play of the feed from Zinaida Titova and Dante Gallo. The PK for both teams is looking rusty to start the season. Fast-forwarding to the third period and Colorado takes the lead just twelve seconds in thanks to Lukas Muller. Zinaida Titova and Dante Gallo again were both the primary and secondary assisters on that goal. The game would end despite a flurry of PGF chances late with Colorado maintaining their one goal lead. Both goalies were great and saw a lot of rubber with Fleury stopping 25 of 26 and Harris stopping 21 of 23. Prince George lead in every statistical category other than PP% which ended up being their downfall as they squandered 7 of 8 power plays. Colorado 2, Firebirds 1.


Game 2: Prince George Firebirds @ Halifax Raiders

Prince George was looking to bounce back as they visited the talented Raiders team in Halifax. Again they got off to a great start thanks to the power play as Kristy O’Sullivan managed to score on Russakoff. That PPG, assisted by Fearghal and Cukurs, helped to silence the home-crowd. Despite a few goals, the Prince George Powerplay would struggle and eventually give up a short-handed goal to the dangerous Sepp Reiter. With the help of Zander Rhys and Brock Bailey, Reiter beat Harris on the short-side after a bad giveaway to tie the game up just three minutes after Prince George had taken the lead. Rookie Nick Dupuis would pot his first SMJHL goal five minutes later off a wrister from the blue line. This goal would also mark the first SMJHL point for rookie Dani Forsberg and Nick Celej’s first point of his SMJHL season. Prince George would go up by two goals just over a minute into the second period as Smirnov Light would slam home his first of the year, assisted by Kristy O’Sullivan and Declan Reilly. That would be the end of Russakoff’s night as he only save 5 out of a possible 9 shots. He was replaced by Max Smith-Frey to give the Raiders a boost. Shortly after, the Raiders capitalized and Zander Rhys scored his first of the year with help from Sepp Reiter and Tomas Csonka. Prince George would answer back in just over a minute as Teemu Sirius would net his first of the season on a play started by Teodors Cukurs and Tapper Kottbulle. Prince George would put this one to bed with rookie Xander Green’s goal just a minute later. Isaac Cormier-Hale and Caelan Fearghal got the assists on that one despite it being a great individual effort by Green. The game would end there with another great performance by Harris. He stopped 22 out of a possible 24 shots and kept his team in it despite the Firebirds being outshot 24 to 21 in the game. Firebirds 5, Raiders 2


Game 3: Colorado Mammoths @ Prince George Firebirds

Prince George would have their first shot at redemption this year as the Mammoths bested the ‘birds in their first meeting. Again the Firebirds opened the scoring (that’s 3/3 in the first three games) on the powerplay as Jean Girard scored his first goal of the season with a nice move to beat Fleury. Smirnov Light and Caelan Fearghal were credited with the assists on the goal scored just two minutes into the game after a Hunter Hotchkiss hook. Prince George would net the second goal of the game via Chris York with help from Teemu Siris and Nick Dupuis. The Mammoths would cut the lead in half as Asvard Lyszczarczyk slotted home a feed from Serj Kovalchuk at just over five minutes into the second. The Mammoths would tie it up around ten minutes later as Colton Hagan would score his first of the year from O’Dooley. Prince George looked flabbergasted as the Mammoths took the lead late in the second period on a Zachary O’Ryan goal which game from Tord Yvel and Lukas Muller. Just under halfway through the third period Chris York scored his second goal of the game and his second of the season on a feed from Fearghal to tie things up at 3 a-piece. Hats would fly over the glass and on the ice as York would score his hat-trick goal at just over thirteen minutes played in the third. Fearghal and ICH helped him out on that one as the fans erupted. The scoring would end there as PGF would hold on late thanks to some big saves by Harris. Prince George won this one despite being outshot 28 to 21 thanks to York, Fearghal and Harris who are my personal three stars of the game. Firebirds 4, Mammoths 3


Game 4: Colorado Mammoths @ Prince George Firebirds

Another day, another game between divisional foes Prince George and Colorado. Lots of animosity between these two teams having played one another so frequently to start the season lead to just a shit-load of penalties in the first period. Six penalties were ultimately handed out which mean that more than half of the first 20 minutes was played with one team or the other being man-down. Ultimately, both PK units looked great and neither team managed to score. The second period was much of the same as five penalties we’re doled out this period, although four went to Prince George for four straight hooking penalties. Come on, refs. Anyways, eventually Prince George’s PK unit got worn down by the power play unit of the Mammoths and rookie Finn Larsson sniped his first career SMJHL goal home at just over fifteen minutes into the second period. The Mammoths would head into the 2nd intermission holding a one goal lead. Chris York would score his 4th goal in two games just a minute into the third period on an assist from rookie Declan Reilly to tie up the game at one goal a piece. Eventually Prince George would break through with just under half the period left to play on a goal from Teodor Cukurs, his first in likely his last season as a Firebird. Fellow veterans Teemu Sirius and Caelen Fearghal would net the assists on his power play goal. Eventually the clock would tick to zero and the Firebirds would escape with a hard-fought but sloppy win. Harris carried the team blocking 30 of a possible 31 shots despite his team being short-handed for about half the game. Heavily outshot, 31 to 22, the Firebirds are going to need to clean things if they want to go far this season. Then again 9 penalties in a game is totally unacceptable and should be an outlier for a team built around skill rather than grit. Firebirds 2, Mammoths 1


Game 5: Kelowna Knights @ Prince George Firebirds

We arrive at the first game of the season between perennial playoff foes in the Knights and Firebirds. This one will be the first of two in a home-and-home series. The fourth line for the Firebirds would kick things off for the home team thanks to Taemin Gede’s first goal of the season and Noah Stevenson’s first point of the year at just over four minutes into the game. Nick Celej would also pick up a helper on the first goal. Just over four minutes after that Prince George would double their lead thanks to their top line on Cukur’s second goal of the season, assisted by Chris York and Caelen Fearghal. No love was lost between these two sides with a lot of slashing and face-washing after the whistle. Kelowna would pull one back early in the second period via Halfdan Thorstein’s goal, assisted by Langabeer, after Nick Celej got called for a dubious hook. Just over three minutes later after another Prince George penalty, Vasily Horvat would tie the game up off of a feed from Syrjanen and Starosta much to the dismay of the home-crowd here in Prince George. The shock on the home fan’s faces didn’t last long as Chris York came through with his fifth goal of the season just two minutes after Kelowna equalized thanks to a stretch-pass from Isaac Cormier-Hale. This was a real up and down affair as both teams we’re getting a ton of grade-a opportunities. Horvat would equalize on the power play, again, fifteen minutes into the third period thanks to a bit of help from Ambrose Syrjanen and rookie Nick Dupuis who took the penalty because of another weak hooking call. OT BOYS!!!! Rookie Janis Doro shocked the building by scoring a greasy one just over two minutes into the OT period thanks to Lykke Bergfalk, Miguel Sanchez, and some horrible PGF defense. Both goalies saw a ton of rubber with Kelowna outshooting Prince George 33 to 31. Knights 4, Firebirds 3 (OT)


Game 6: Prince George Firebirds @ Kelowna Knights

After a heated affair the night before in Prince George, the schedule makers in their infinite wisdom decided to have these two rivals play back to back. This game started off with easily the most boring period of the season so far which saw a total of seven shots between the two teams, zero goals, zero penalties, and 100% reason to remember the name. Anyways, the second period turned into a bit of a gong-show. Unsurprisingly, the refs called yet another stick infraction versus Prince George which saw Kelowna convert for the first goal of the game. John Langabeer scored his third of the season via Andrezjeck and Miguel Sanchez, who are both rookie defensemen for the Knights. Not even a minute later Langabeer went bar-down for his fourth goal of the season, and second in this game/period. Sanchez again was there with the assist as was Cory Knouse. Anndddd the Knights decided to pile on the pain with another goal (their third in less than 7 minutes) via Robin Wexter’s first of the season. Vasily Horvat and rookie Janis Doro assisted on the goal which gave the Knights a resounding three-zero lead over the Firebirds. Just over halfway through the second period the Firebirds would claw one back thanks to Jean Girard from Fearghal and Green. Late period shenanigans ensued as both Wexter and Isaac Cormier-Hale fought to a draw with less than thirty seconds left in the period. Ultimately the rookie Nick Dupuis would bring the Firebirds within one just over a minute in the third period thanks to Celej and Green but it wouldn’t be enough as Kelowna would take this game which turned out to be closer than one would think after the Knights took a 3 goal lead. Both teams put up 21 shots on net but the huge discrepancy in penalty’s decided this one as Prince George only had one PP opportunity to the Knights five. Come on refs, get off your knees. Knights 3, Prince George 2

Game 7: Prince George Firebirds @ Vancouver Whalers

I heard you guys liked Prince George and Vancouver games? Good, because apparently we played them four games in a row with both teams having two home games. This game started off much like the last one, with very little activity on the scoresheet in the first period however this young Whalers squad put on an absolute clinic on puck-movement and offensive zone pressure heavily outshooting the Firebirds by a 20-5 margin. Frankly, the fact that this game isn’t three or four zero in the first period is a testament to how good Harris has been in this first part of the season. Prince George however did get off the snide first thanks to Karl Hertzberg’s first goal of the season at just over four minutes played in the second period. Smirnov Light and the assist machine Caelan Fearghal had the helpers on that nice play. The Whalers responded back in less than five minutes with Rurik Razin’s first goal of the season via a nice feed from Max Humphreys which sent the home crowd into a huge chant trying to urge their Whalers on versus the heavily favorited Firebirds. It didn’t do anything but serve to motivate the Firebirds as Smirnov Light, known more for his passing prowess, stuffed home his second of the season via Nick Dupuis pass to give the Firebirds the lead late in the second period. Both teams headed into the locker room with things to work on. However, the third period was a sloppy one as both teams combined for spending over half of the period sitting in the penalty box. Both penalty kill units held strong though and the final horn blew with the score remaining the same as it was to end the second. The story of the game was Stephen Harris who stopped 31 of a 32 possible Whalers shots. Rookie Cechove didn’t see much rubber but let in 12 of 14. It’s always tough for goalies to not get a lot of action for long stretches of the game and then be forced into big save situations. Firebirds 2, Whalers 1


Game 8: Vancouver Whalers @ Prince George Firebirds

We’re back to Prince George for the second game of this four game love fest between the Prince George Firebirds and the Vancouver Whalers. The first period of this game was completely out of control and it’s quite clear the referee’s decided before their game to call a insanely tight game by the book. This resulted in 18 minutes of penalties in the first twenty minutes of the game. Yes, essentially two minutes of the first twenty minutes of the game was played at even strength. The Whalers got on the board first thanks to rookie winger Emiya Shirou who potted his second goal of the season just three minutes into the game. This power play tally was assisted by Josh O’Brian and Maricis Kalvis. Prince George answered right back with an even-strength goal scored by Teemu Sirius. Somehow, even with the rampant penalties being called, an even strength goal was scored. Teodors Cukurs had the lone helper on that one. The period ended with a total of 17 shots, 18 PIMS and 2 goals. The refs came out for the second period and forgot their whistles as a lot of chippy stuff was going on behind the play but no penalties were called for the entire 20 minute period. Chris York came up aces though and scored his sixth of the season from Cukurs and Sirius just over halfway through the period. Eventually the Firebirds would overpower the Whalers in the third period with a Jean Girard goal, assisted by Reilly and Green, to seal the deal. The Firebirds did not allow a single shot in the third period as the looked to win their second straight versus the Whalers. Both goalies ended up seeing 19 pucks each and both teams saw a minimum of five power play opportunities. This was a messy one especially from a discipline standpoint but that one was firmly on the shoulders of the referee’s as they allowed the game to get out of hand from the opening puck-drop. After being red-hot to start the season, Prince George’s power play has really cooled off in recent games and squandered all six opportunities tonight. Firebirds 3, Whalers 1


Game 9: Prince George Firebirds @ Vancouver Whalers

We’re back to Vancouver for our back-to-back-to-back-to-back series between the red-hot Prince George Firebirds and the struggling Vancouver Whalers. The first period got off to a slow start, especially when you remember how the first period went last game (shit-show). Both teams combined for a meager total of ten shots. The only one that managed to find its way to the back of the net was a shot by Smirnov Light at just over halfway through the period. Unsurprisingly, Caelen Fearghal is the one who set him up. Fearghal is having a hell of a season on the backend for the Firebirds. The second period was much of the same as both teams combined for 11 shots this time. The fourth line got the job done for the Firebirds as Taemin Gede scored his second of the season via ICH and Caelan Fearghal. Things started to get testy though as the period wound on which boiled over to Isaac Cormier-Hale and Max Humphreys trying to feed each other knuckle sandwiches at around fifteen minutes left in the period. While the third period didn’t see anything on the score-sheet, the referees were very busy in doling out five penalties leading to over half of the period being played a man down one way or another. The Firebirds however dominated this period from start to finish by putting up 13 shots to the Whalers 6. The game ended in a flurry of chances by the Firebirds to seal the deal but they couldn’t manage to find the back of the net. Despite the loss, Cechove played very well in stopping 22 of 24 shots. Harris more than matched him though by stopping all 15 shots against in what was ultimately a fairly quiet outing for the Firebirds goaltender. The season series between the two teams is now totally lopsided in the favor of the Prince George Firebirds but the Vancouver Whalers will have one more opportunity to grab a win versus the Western Conference favorite’s tomorrow night as they take on the Firebirds in Prince George. Firebirds 2, Whalers 0

Stay tuned for the Part 2 coming shortly to an SMJHL media section near you!