Royals defeat Cougars in extra time

The Victoria Royals traveled north to face the Prince George Cougars for a matinee game on Sunday.  For the Cougars, it was there annual Teddy Bear Toss game and a chance to build on a two game win streak. The Royals were also looking to continue some momentum, after a big win at home on Friday. In the net for Prince George was 16-year-old Taylor Gauthier while Griffen Outhouse got the start for Victoria.

The first period had chances for both clubs  but it remained scoreless through the first half of the period. The Cougars struck first as forward Josh Maser banked it on the right side of the net at 14:41. With the goal, the teddy bears to fly in Prince George and the stuffed animals covered the ice.

Josh Maser with 3 PPG including the Teddy Bear goal for the Cougars

Maser scored his 10th on a nice feed from Brogan O’Brien while on the powerplay. Victoria had a late power play of their own but were unable to score by period’s end. Shot in the frame were 9-7 for the Cougars.

To start the second, the Victoria power play were unable to score against the league’s 2nd ranked penalty killing team. Jackson Leppard scored at 5:17 on Prince George’s first shot of the period to pull ahead 2-0.  A penalty shot was called as Josh Curtis was hauled down going to the net. Curtis came in on Outhouse with the deke, but the Royals netminder was able to make the save.  The Cougars extended their lead to 3-0 as Mazer jammed home his second power play goal of the game.

The third period started with the teams playing four-on-four due to a scrum at the end of the second. With the extra ice, neither team were able to score. Matthew Phillips cut the lead to 3-1 as he took a feed at the left side of the net to score. The goal at 4:06 was 22nd for the Royals’ captain Phillips, assists going to Tyler Soy and Igor Martynov. The Royals’ powerplay then struck just over a minute later, making it 3-2 as Jared Freadrich scored at 5:22.

Kade Jensen then hit O’Brien at the blueline resulting in the Cougar forward being injured and a five minute penalty for kneeing with a game misconduct for Jensen. Victoria scored their third straight goal as Freadrich scored while the teams were four-on-four. Mazer then put Prince George ahead 4-3, as the puck bounced off his body and into the net. After an official review, the goal stood and Mazer had his third powerplay goal of the evening.

Victoria then got a greasy goal of their own, as the puck went up in the air and came down behind Gauthier to tie it 4-4. The goal at 15:12 was credited to Dino Kambeitz  as it appeared he got his stick on the puck as it went up in the air before going in. Both teams had chances to close out the game but at the end of regulation the score was still tied.

Overtime winner by Matthew Phillips

In overtime, Phillips made a nifty move at centre and snapped a shot to the low glove side to beat Gauthier and complete the comeback. The goal at 1:55 was the second of the night for Phillips to win it for the Royals 5-4.

A closely fought BC Division game saw the Royals able to claw their way back from being down 3-0. These two teams face each other again on Tuesday evening December 12th at the CN Centre.