On paper, it appears as though November features the most difficult stretch of games for the Prince George Cougars.

They play the first of seven consecutive road games tonight in Kelowna against the Rockets. From there, they’ll embark on their annual prairie road swing.

The Cougars are also scheduled to play in Swift Current (Friday), Moose Jaw (Saturday), Regina (Nov. 10), Brandon (Nov. 11), Prince Albert (Nov. 13) and Saskatoon (Nov. 14) during a seven-games-in-11-days stretch.

The trip poses a challenge for a squad coming off a pair of home-ice losses, 3-2 and 4-0 to the Tri-City Americans on Friday and Saturday. Cougars head coach Dean Clark stressed the importance of putting the doubleheader behind them.

“We can’t sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got games to play, and we got to get better,” he said following their most recent defeat, 4-0 on Halloween. “We need guys to get more confidence here, and we have to go out and create some good things in order for us to feel good about ourselves.”

On Saturday, the Cougars were held off the scoresheet for the second time this season. They were outshot 40-20, including 19-6 in the third period.

“I think we could’ve had more jump than that, obviously. We’re a lot better team than we played tonight,” Cougars defenceman Jesse Forsberg said on Saturday evening.

Acquired a few days before the weekend doubleheader, Hudson Stremmel started both games between the pipes for the Cougars. On Friday, he turned aside 34 shots. Saturday, he recorded 36 saves. A native of Reno, Nev., Stremmel began this season with the NCAA Division 1 Colorado College Cougars and the set against Tri-City marked his first taste of the WHL.

The previous weekend, Prince George minor hockey product Alex Wright recorded his first Western Hockey League victory in his first full game in the league when the Cougars defeated the Chilliwack Bruins 5-4 in a shootout on Oct. 24. Despite only three full games of WHL experience between them, Stremmel and Wright have looked poised the past few games for the Cougars

“I’m happy with both guys. Alex came last weekend and got us a win and I think Hudson was very, very good in both games,” Clark said. “He battled all the way through the end, even thought they hung him out to dry there a couple of times at the end, and he made some great saves.”

Brendan Shinnimin received first-star honours for the Americans in registering a three-point night with two goals and an assist. Second-star Adam Hughesman collected a goal and two helpers. Johnny Lazo also scored for the visitors, while Brett Martyniuk picked up the victory in goal.

“They’re good forwards. I think we could’ve contained them, but we just didn’t have it tonight, but they’re a good team,” noted Forsberg, a 16-year-old rookie from Waldheim, Sask.

The Cougars couldn’t score on four power-play opportunities. Tri-City finished two-for-seven with the extra man.

Injured players out of the lineup for the Cougars on Saturday were 17-year-old forward Brett Connolly (hip flexor) and 20-year-old defenceman Garrett Thiessen (shoulder). Twenty-year-old forward Tyler Halliday was a healthy scratch.

A deadline of today was set for the Cougars to reduce their number of overage players from five to four. They’re required to reduce that figure to three two weeks after Thiessen returns from injury. The team’s other 20-year-old players are forward Alex Rodgers, forward Del Cowan, and defenceman Dallas Jackson.

The Cougars next home game isn’t until Nov. 20, the first game of a doubleheader against the Kelowna Rockets. They wrap up their November schedule with a CN Centre doubleheader against the Vancouver Giants, Nov. 27 and 28.

The Cougars were slated to practice Monday and Tuesday before travelling to Kelowna. Forsberg, the only Saskatchewan product on the Cougars’ roster, looked forward to returning to familiar territory.

“It’ll be a lot of fun. I get to play in front of my family and friends, and play in places I’ve played all my life,” he said. “It’ll be really good to go out there and prove something. Hopefully we can get a good turnout too.”