Cougars Host Oil Kings Friday & Saturday
Prince George Cougars fans will get their first look at their team facing someone other than themselves this weekend. The Cougars will host the Edmonton Oil Kings in back-to-back pre-season games Friday and Saturday at CN Centre, with puck drop at 7:00pm both nights.
The Cougars are coming off a weekend that saw them pick up what would normally be three of four points in an exhibition tournament in Edmonton. The Cougars started the pre-season with a 3-1 victory Saturday over the Medicine Hat Tigers, with Caleb Belter, Jesse Forsberg and Brett Connolly each notching goals in the win. The Cougars started James Priestner in net, who blocked seven of eight shots in just over 30 minutes of play. Morgan Clark came on in relief in the second half of the game and did not allow a goal on 14 shots faced.
The following day, the Cougars were 96 seconds away from another win over the Swift Current Broncos. But the Broncos tied the game at three late in regulation then won 4-3 in a shoot-out. 16-year old Devon Fordyce played the entire game between the pipes for the Cougars and stopped 30 of 33 shots he faced, and turned away one of three shoot-out attempts. Greg Fraser led the Cougars attack offensively, scoring twice in the game, but was stopped in the shoot-out. Troy Bourke had the lone shoot-out goal, while adding an assist on one of the Fraser goals. Meantime, Mattia Bortolotto also scored for the Cougars, meaning all six goal scorers during the first two games of pre-season were no older that 18-years of age.
After facing the Oil Kings, the Cougars will wrap up the pre-season with back-to-back dates with the Kamloops Blazers. The teams will square off in Kamloops on September 17, then come to Prince George for the back-half of the double-header the following night. The Cougars and Blazers will open the season in Kamloops on Friday, September 24. After a date in Kelowna with the Rockets the following night, the Cougars return to Prince George for their home opener on Friday, October 1 against the Vancouver Giants. Puck drop will be at 7:00pm at CN Centre. Cougars Season Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.
