COUGARS EDGE BLAZERS 4-3 IN A SHOOTOUT
After falling four straight times to the Kamloops Blazers to start the season, the Prince George Cougars have now rattled off two straight victories against their closest WHL rivals. Wednesday night in Kamloops the Cougars defeated the Blazers 4-3 in a shootout. Brad Morrison ended the game in round four of the shootout after Ty Edmonds had turned aside all four Kamloops shootout attempts. Jansen Harkins, Chase Witala and Kody McDonald supplied the goals for Prince George in regulation and goaltender Ty Edmonds made 22 saves on the 25 shots he faced to earn his 12th victory of the season. Collin Shirley had two goals and an assist in response for Kamloops.
Heading into the game the Cougars were looking for their first win in Kamloops since December 6th, 2014 but it didn’t start off well as just 1:33 into the first Collin Shirley raced down the right wing and snuck a shot past Ty Edmonds blocker and in for his 25th goal of the season.
Mid-way through the first period the Cougars had a power play chance, but Kamloops ended up with the best scoring chance when Nick Chyzowski raced in alone on Ty Edmonds. The Cougars veteran netminder made a left pad left save off a back-hand deke which proved important as the Cougars would tie the game moments later.
At the 15:40 mark of the first the Cougars got on the board when Jansen Harkins deflected home a Brad Morrison pass from the front of Kamloops netminder Connor Ingram. Jared Bethune added the second assist on the Harkins goal giving him eight points in six games against Kamloops. The first period would end tied 1-1.
In the second the Cougars outshot Kamloops 14-5 but it was Kamloops who would re-take the lead at the 10:49 mark of the middle frame. Ty Edmonds made a remarkable breakaway save off of Collin Shirley, but the Cougars clearing attempt ended right on the stick of Deven Sideroff who then wired a shot past a sprawled Edmonds and in for his 11th.
Once again the Cougars had an answer which came at 17:57 of the second and it was the reigning WHL Player of the Month who supplied it. Chase Witala took a pass from Joe Carvalho, raced down the left wing and roofed a shot over the right shoulder of Ingram and home for his 25th of the season. Cougars goaltender Ty Edmonds also earned an assist on the play.
11 seconds later off of the ensuing faceoff the Cougars grabbed the lead when Kody McDonald snuck a shot from the top of the left circle off of the glove of Ingram and in for his eighth. The second period ended with no further offense and the Cougars had the lead 3-2.
Early in the third period Kamloops got back on even terms when Collin Shirley one-timed home a Deven Sideroff pass off the rush for his second of the game and his 26th of the season. It was a power play marker which came on the first Blazers shot of the third period.
From there though Ty Edmonds was lights out. His counterpart Connor Ingram was equally up to the task as he stopped all 12 Cougars shots he faced in the third. Edmonds stopped the next five shots fired his way and for a second time this season the Cougars and Blazers would need more than 60 minutes to decide a game.
Both teams managed five shots in the overtime period and yet again neither Ingram or Edmonds would relent. Edmonds made a great save off of Jake Kryski while Ingram made a late stop off of Joe Carvalho point-blank to force a shootout marking the second time this season that these two rivals needed a shootout to decide the final outcome.
Collin Shirley shot first for Kamloops but fired wide on his attempt. Ingram denied Chase Witala’s attempt in response. Up next for Kamloops was Deven Sideroff who was turned aside by Edmonds. Ingram again answered with a stop off of Jesse Gabrielle. Jake Kryski started round three for Kamloops but could not solve Edmonds who poked checked him off of the puck. Jansen Harkins had a chance to win the game for the Cougars but Ingram turned him away.
Rookie Garrett Pilon started the fourth round for the Blazers but missed on his attempt which put the game on the stick of Cougars skilled forward Brad Morrison who earlier in the week celebrated his 18th birthday and also became an uncle for a second time. He skated in close on Connor Ingram and stuffed a back-hand shot through him and across the goal line to seal the Cougars 24th victory and their first victory in 2016.
Goaltender Ty Edmonds may not have faced the same amount of rubber that Ingram did at the other end, but he made the saves when he had too: 25 saves during regulation and overtime and four additional stops in the shootout.
The final shot tally was: 41-25 favoring the Cougars who have now won three consecutive games on the road. On the power play the Cougars were zero-for-three but they finished five-for-six on the penalty kill. Now the Cougars will head home for a weekend double header with the Victoria Royals and currently sit just two points behind the Royals for second in the B.C. Division and the Western Conference.
Friday night at the CN Centre marks the first of back-to-back games for the Cougars against the Royals in a weekend that could very well impact the race for second place in the B.C. Division.
