WITALA MAKES HISTORY IN A COUGARS LOSS IN PRINCE ALBERT
20-year-old Prince George native Chase Witala now stands alone atop the Prince George Cougars career goal scoring list. Wednesday night in Prince Albert, Witala netted his 112th career goal at 12:21 of the third period. Unfortunately for the Cougars Witala’s 32nd of the season wasn’t enough as they dropped the game by a 3-1 score the Prince Albert Raiders. It was the Cougars first regulation loss on their current six-game Saskatchewan road trip which still featuers upcoming stops in Brandon and Regina. Reid Gardiner paced the Raiders with a goal and two assists for the home team. Raiders goaltender Rylan Parenteau made 26 saves for Prince Albert.
Fresh off a 7-0 victory a night ago against the Blades, the Cougars found themselves down 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. At 10:56 of the first period, former Cougars forward Jordan Tkatch snuck a low shot past Nick McBride who was facing his former club for the first time since he was traded to the Cougars by the Raiders in October, 2015. Raiders captain Tim Vanstone was awarded a penalty shot late in the first, but McBride slid to his right and stopped Vanstone’s backhand attempt, keeping the score at 1-0. Despite the eventual loss, Nick McBride played a marvelous game for the Cougars stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced.
With exactly 14 minutes gone in the second period the Raiders increased their lead to 2-0 when Vanstone tipped home a Reid Gardiner shot from the high slot past McBride for his sixth of the season. The middle period came to an end with the Raiders still leading 2-0 and they held a 22-16 shot advantage.
To the Cougars credit they came out strong in the third. Parenteau made some key early saves but the Cougars kept on coming, and finally were rewarded at 12:21 off a miscue at the Raiders blueline.
Chase Witala grabbed the puck off a turnover and skated in two-on-one with Jesse Gabrielle. Witala skated into the left circle, waited for the Raider defenceman to commit before ripping home a shot past the glove of Parenteau and in for his record breaking goal; the 32nd of the season and the 112th of his Cougars career. Heading into the game Witala was tied with former Cougars captain Eric Hunter with 111 career goals in a Cougars uniform.
Over the course of the next six minutes and 32 seconds of play there was not a single whistle, and much of the play taking place in the Raiders zone. The Cougars buzzed around the Raiders net and had several good looks at the net, but Parenteau was able to keep his taem ahead.
With 68 seconds left in the game, play finally came to a halt thanks to a Reid Gardiner empty net goal. Gardiner’s 32nd of the season put the game out of reach for the Cougars who finished the game zero-for-two on the power play and three-for-three on the penalty kill. The final shots were 31-27 for Prince Albert.
The Cougars season record now sits at 31-19-2-1. Wednesday’s loss moves their record on their current road trip to 2-1-1-0. Next up for the Cougars a trip to Brandon, MB for a battle with the East Division’s top team, the Brandon Wheat Kings.
