Cougars Take Rockets To A Shoot Out

James Dobrowolski scored a pair for the Prince George Cougars who started a seven game road trip by picking up a point against the Kelowna Rockets at Prospera Place.  The Cougars and Rockets battled in a back and forth affair which the Rockets would eventually win 5-4 in a shoot-out.
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rThings didn’t look good for the Cougars early in the hockey game when the Rockets scored just 90 seconds into the contest, when Mitchell Callahan would poke home the games opening tally.  The Rockets Brandon McMillan would give the hosts a 2-0 lead six minutes later, beating goalie Alex Wright, making his second start for the Cougars in goal.  But Dobrowolski would reply to both goals with his third and fourth markers of the season.  His first goal of the night came at 10:37 from Marek Viedensky followed by a power play goal at 13:10, set up by Alex Rodgers and Parker Stanfield.  The Cougars out-shot the Rockets 12-9 in the opening frame as the game sat tied at two through 20 minutes.
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rThe Cougars would get their first lead of the night near the mid-way point of the second period, as Nick Buonassisi would bang home his second goal of the season at 8:36, with Stanfield getting the only helper.  But the Rockets would get the game even again at 15:48 with a power play goal of their own from Kyle St. Denis, making the score 3-3 through 40 minutes of play.  The Rockets had the edge in shots in the second, 12-8, and led 21-20 in the game.
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rIn the third period, both teams collected early goals, with the Rockets grabbing the lead back at 1:44 from Spencer Main, but Robbie Ciolfi would pull the Cougars even just 62 seconds later.  Ciolfi’s tally tied the game at four with his third goal of the season, assisted by Buonassisi and Cougars rookie scoring leader Jesse Forsberg.  Both Wright and Rockets netminder Adam Brown shut the door from there, with the teams skating to a 4-4 tie through regulation.  The Rockets out-shot Prince George 13-9 in the third period and the Cougars had the only two shots of overtime, which saw neither team win the game and meant a shoot-out for the second time in four outings for the Cougars.
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rThe Cougars had won their only other shoot-out game, 5-4 over Chilliwack on October 24 in Prince George, which Wright collected the victory in, going 4-for-4.  Rockets defenceman Tyson Barrie would solve Wright for a 1-0 lead in the first round of the shoot-out, which was all Kelowna needed for the win.  Even though Shane McColgen and Stepan Novotny could not solve Wright with the Rockets remaining two shots, Buonassisi, Dobrowolski and Viedensky were all blanked by Brown as the Cougars fell 5-4.  The Cougars record dips to 3-12-0-1 while the Rockets improve to 9-7-1-0, leap-frogging the Kamloops Blazers and Bruins for second in the BC Division with 19 points.
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rBoth teams scored once on the power play, with the Cougars getting four chances and the Rockets three.  The Cougars and Rockets meet again when the Cougars play their first home game after the road trip on Friday, November 20 at CN Centre, the first of two games that weekend between the BC Division rivals.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.
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rThe Cougars now face the East Division, with a trip to Swift Current for a date Friday night against the Broncos, followed by a meeting in Moose Jaw with the Warriors Saturday night.

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Photo Courtesy Marissa Baecker