The Prince George Cougars entered this contest on a 17-game losing streak and left it on a one game winning streak. Prince George scored early and controlled much of the play and despite the Cougars having the majority of the chances they still needed a shootout to dispatch a lackluster Blazer squad.
Just under half way into the first period Cougars 19-year-old forward Josh maser banged home a rebound for his 23rd goal of the season giving the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Late in the first, Kamloops had Prince George reeling. Zane Franklin found Sean Strange in a great shooting spot, with half the net open, but Cougar’s draft-eligible goaltender Taylor Gauthier threw his pad out and absolutely robbed the 18-year-old defenceman.
Despite the Blazers controlling the back half, the team from the Northern Capital owned the majority of the play in the first frame.
Kamloops played a very tame game in the first two periods, something Head Coach Serge Lajoie commented on post game.
“I would hate to think it was because we were taking our opponent lightly, it seemed like we just weren’t ready. Even in the morning for activation and video, and then showing up before the game, we were lifeless and we were like that for two periods.”
Through two periods the Goaltenders were the story with Kamloops’ Dylan Ferguson stopping 24 and his counter-part Gauthier, stopping 20.
For the Blazers, their best players through two periods were their young kids. Both 16-year-olds Kyrell Sopotyk and Josh Pillar brought energy to their shifts which is more than can be said for most of the squad.
“It’s youthful energy but it’s them reaping the rewards of practicing the right way, playing the right way, being receptive and open to challenging themselves out of their comfort zone. Those are two young men that have shown tremendous group and i’m finding myself feeling more and more confident using them” said Lajoie.
In the third, this game looked destined to be the Blazers first shutout loss of the season until Zane Franklin potted his 26th of the season over the shoulder of Gauthier knotting the game at one.
Five minutes of overtime would solve nothing, the game was off to the shootout.
In the skills competition that is the shootout, the Cougars scored on their first two attempts while both Blazers shooters, Zary and Franklin, were stopped.
After the game, Serge was asked if this was a game where they gained a point or lost one.
“I look at it as a lesson learned. You can’t play the game for 20 minutes and expect to get more than we got… I look at the 40 minutes that were squandered and i think we played kitty by the door waiting to see what would happen. We got pushed around in our own rink, we will definitely take the one point but it’s disappointing we didn’t get another one.”
With this win Prince George avoids losing an 18th game in a row.
Blazing Along
With Kelowna beating Spokane in a shootout and Seattle battling back to take 2 points off Everett this shootout loss pushes the Blazers back to five points behind Kelowna and four behind Seattle. Kamloops still retains three games in hand over the Rockets and two over the Thunderbirds.
The Blazers will re-group tonight, meet for a video session in the morning and head to Kelowna to take on the Rockets in a game with many playoff implications.
Attendance – 3412 announced attendance
With a guess of @MoffatZach is our winner!
3,400 and I want a prize
— Zach Moffat (@MoffatZach) February 23, 2019
