Cougars, Winterhawks set for WHL Playoffs rematch in Round One

The Prince George Cougars and Portland Winterhawks are set to clash in a rematch of the 2024 WHL Western Conference Championship.

Prince George (40-20-4-2) will finish second in the B.C. Division and fourth in the Western Conference Standings, while Portland (36-26-3-1) enters the 2025 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien as the fifth seed.

The Winterhawks own a 4-0-0-0 record against the Cougars in 2024-25, though two of those victories came in overtime and a shootout.

Prince George has been rolling in the home stretch with an 8-2-0-0 record in their last 10 outings, thanks to another strong season from Minnesota Wild prospect and team-leading scorer Riley Heidt (31G-51A, 89 points) and top 2025 NHL Draft-eligible netminder Joshua Ravensbergen, who sits second in wins among all WHL goaltenders with 33.

Winterhawks Captain Kyle Chyzowski has been a breakout star for his club in his final season of WHL eligibility, surpassing 100 points for the first time to sit fourth in the WHL scoring race (41G-64A, 105 points).

Seattle Kraken Tyson Jugnauth leads all WHL defencemen in scoring (13G-76A, 89 points) and is one point away from joining his former Winterhawks teammate Luca Cagnoni as the only defencemen to reach 90 points since the 1993-94 season.

This will mark the sixth time the teams have met in the postseason, with Portland winning four of five previous meetings.

Most recently, the Hawks downed the Cougars in a nailbiting six-game battle in the 2024 Western Conference final, though the battered Winterhawks would end up falling to the eventual WHL Champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

The first-round series will open at the CN Centre on Friday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. PST before shifting south of the border to Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum for Game 3 on Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. PST.

*- If necessary

COUGARS TICKET INFORMATION

WINTERHAWKS TICKET INFORMATION