Examiner.com: Cougars roll over Ams
By Rene Ferran | Examiner.com
One night after scoring their season-high in goals, the Tri-City Americans fell flat on their faces in Prince George.
Three different Cougars scored two goals apiece, and Prince George ended an 11-game losing streak to the Americans with an 8-3 rout Saturday night.
Tri-City had won five in a row in Prince George — including a 7-3 win Friday night — and 18 of 19 overall against the Cougars, but all those streaks came to an end with a resounding thud.
“This is one (film) that you don’t even watch once,” said Ams coach Jim Hiller. “You can slice and dice this game 100 different ways, but it was just a bad game for us.”
How bad? The Ams hadn’t given up eight goals in a game in almost five years — Everett handed Tri-City an 8-1 loss on Jan. 11, 2006.
Prince George last beat Tri-City at home on Oct. 3, 2007. In that game, the Cougars scored four goals in the first period — just as they did Saturday night.
“Early on, we weren’t as firm on the puck,” Hiller said. “We had opportunities with the puck on our stick but couldn’t get it past our own blue line.
“We just weren’t ready for their pressure tonight, and it showed. They wanted the puck more early in the game, were firmer with the puck, and they were able to find the back of the net.”
To add injury to insult, recently acquired defenseman Zak Stebner suffered a second-period injury and didn’t return to the game.
Hiller said it was too soon to know whether Stebner would play in Tuesday night’s game in Seattle, but his absence would mean three veterans would be on the shelf — captain Kruise Reddick didn’t make the 14-hour trip to P.G. as he continues to feel the effects of a concussion suffered during the team’s East Division swing, and Brendan Shinnimin is out on suspension.
“We were fortunate that way last year” avoiding the injury bug, Hiller said, “but we’re paying the piper a little bit early this year.”
Zachary Yuen and Mason Wilgosh scored their first goals of the season for Tri-City, while Patrick Holland got his ninth of the year. Adam Hughesman had a pair of assists, giving him points in 13 of the Americans’ 14 games this season.
