WITALA’S WRATH

So far so good for the Prince George Cougars on their Eastern road swing. After snagging a single point in Swift Current Friday the Cougars defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-2 on Saturday at Mosaic Place. Chase Witala paced the Cougars with a a goal and three assists while Jansen Harkins added a pair of goals. Nick McBride started his first game since January 3^rd and made 33 saves to capture his 10^th victory of the season and the 30^th victory overall for the Cougars.

By the time the game was 10 minutes old the Cougars had a 4-0 lead. First it was Kody McDonald who opened the scoring at 7:02 on a power play. McDonald’s 13^th marked the 10^th power play goal for the Cougars over their past seven games. 56 seconds later Chase Witala potted his 31^st of the season off a shot from the left wing circle. For Witala it was his 111^th career goal in the WHL which ties him for the all-time franchise lead in goals with former Cougars captain Eric Hunter. Witala was far from done.

At 9:16 of the period Jansen Harkins made it 3-0 for Prince George when he grabbed a Shane Collins rebound and out-waited Zach Sawchenko for his 16^th of the season. Then 24 seconds later Brogan O’Brien converted off a Jesse Gabrielle pass at 9:40 to extend the Cougars lead to 4-0. For the rookie forward it was his 15^th of the season.

Late in the first the Warriors solved Nick McBride for the first time when Brett Howden lifted a backhand shot past the glove of McBride and home for his 18^th of the year. McBride felt like he was interfered with on the play, but the referee ruled a good goal and the Warriors were on the board.

Period one ended with the Cougars ahead 4-1, but the Warriors held a slight 14-13 shot advantage.

After a five goal first only one goal was scored in the second, and it came off the stick of Jayden Halbgewachs who took a pass from Brett Howden in the slot and ripped a shot in for his 11^th. Despite the one goal both McBride and Sawchenko were razor sharp in the second making some timely saves for their respective teams. The Warriors led in the shots 26-23 through two periods but trailed by a 4-2 count.

Bartek Bison moved the Cougars back ahead by three goals at 9:19 of the third. Chase Witala earned his second assist of the night when he made the pass from the right corner to Bison in front. Jansen Harkins then put the game away with an empty-netter with 3:20 to go in the third. Fittingly it was Chase Witala who set him up for his 17^th of the season.

The final shots were dead even at 35 apiece. Prince George finished the game six-for-six on the penalty kill and one-for-five on the power play. Their power play has now scored in seven straight games.

With the win the Cougars record now improves to 30-19-2-1 and 1-0-1-0 on their current six game Eastern road trip. Nick McBride’s 33 saves lifted him to his 10^th victory of the season. His record now sits at 10-4-0-1.

Now the Cougars will get two days off before facing off with the Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday night at the Sasktel Centre in Saskatoon. Could it be record breaking night for Chase Witala? We’ll find out Tuesday at 5:00 PM local time.