|
| |
|
|
|
Home ice kind to Cougars |
|
|
|
Written by JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor
|
|
Sunday, 05 October 2008 |
(Top) Brett Connolly, a rookie winger for the Prince George Cougars, completes a beauty of a goal against the Chilliwack Bruins in the first period of Saturday’s game at CN Centre. The Bruins scored three times in the third period to force extra time. Dallas Jackson of the Cougars had the only goal of the shootout as the Cats emerged with their fourth home-ice win, a 4-3 decision. (Below) What the WHL calls a ‘multiple-fight situation’ showed up in the first period, instigated by Chilliwack, and leading to six ejections. Brian Matte found himself in the middle of a scrum that involved Chilliwack’s Liam Darragh, a Quesnel product. (Brent Braaten photo)
Related Items
DREW SCHONECKCOUGARSCATSALEX POULTERBRETT CONNOLLYBRIAN MATTECHILLIWACK BRUINSDALLAS JACKSONGREG FRASERNICK BUONASSISIPRINCE ALBERT RAIDERSBRUIN MCDONALDKEVIN ARMSTRONGKITTY LITTERMAREK VIEDENSKY
Many scoffed, and given the home record the past few winters, they had good reason.
The laughing is silent for now after the Cougars improved their home-ice standing to 4-0 by escaping from a late rally by the Chilliwack Bruins with a 4-3 shootout victory on Saturday night.
Perhaps, with 32 more CN Centre games to come, the building might indeed become territory belonging to someone other than the opposition. The Cougars are 5-1-0-0 overall thanks to two doubleheader sweeps, which have been rare in these parts.
On Meet The Pack Night, a Citizen promotion with 1,000 tickets doled out to subscribers, the Bruins met a speedy, determined pack of Cougars who were relentless in the first period, then salvaged the win on Dallas Jackson’s shootout goal. A season-high crowd of 3,750 went away happy and entertained.
“It’s a good lesson learned -- you have a 3-0 lead and you should be able to keep the foot down, but the way the game was being called it was tough for us to get any flow back in our game,” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck.
“It allowed them to chip away and they got some confidence and some bouncy goals.”
Brian Matte opened the scoring 3:09 in, connecting from close range after Alex Poulter and Marek Viedensky had done much of the work. A mere 81 seconds later, 16-year-old forward Greg Fraser scored his first WHL goal, upping the lead to 2-0.
Then came one of the nicest goals the building has seen in a long time -- and maybe the most-impressive goal ever scored by a home-team 16-year-old. Brett Connolly got the puck in the corner, worked out to the slot, and mixing finesse and strength went around Bruins goalie Mark Friesen and deftly slid the puck into a yawning cage.
Behind 3-0, the Bruins decided to try the physical approach, and a multiple-fight situation started when Matte hit a Chilliwack player from behind. The Bruins instigated fights that led to six game misconducts, and the Cougars could not keep up their same level of speed and pressure the rest of the way.
Gone for Chilliwack were Scott Ramsay, Liam Darragh and Partik Bhungal, while the Cats had to do without Viedensky and minute-chomping defencemen Cody Hobbs and Art Bidlevskii for the final 50 minutes.
“They lost two guys who I don’t think have scored a goal in this league yet,” said Schoneck. “Viedensky’s been playing well for us.”
After a scoreless second period, punctuated by more strong goaltending from Kevin Armstrong of the Cougars including a stop on a two-on-zero Bruins break, Jaden Potter ended Armstrong’s shutout bid early in the third.
Then, with 2:38 to play in regulation, Potter set up the first WHL goal by rookie James Bettauer, a defenceman who was playing on the wing Saturday.
With the Cougars shorthanded and less than 90 seconds to play, ex-Bruin Colby Kulhanek missed wide right on the empty Chilliwack net, and that came back to haunt. Alexander Wiklund of the Bruins was credited with a seeing-eye goal that appeared to be tipped past Armstrong -- the time showing on the clock: 1:01.
“We got stormed (early) and were on our heels, so I give our players a ton of credit because it would’ve been easy to fold the tent and get on the bus,” said Bruins coach Jim Hiller.
Armstrong stuffed Potter in overtime, using a two-pad stack rarely seen in the WHL since Glen Hanlon was a star for the Wheat Kings. Armstrong turned aside all four Bruins shooters in the shootout, and Jackson banked a shot off the post to Friesen’s right for the winner.
“We could’ve surrendered a couple points there, but I’m glad we stuck with it,” said Armstrong.
The Cougars have one more home game to add to their three-game winning streak -- all those victories over Chilliwack -- and then start a nine-game road swing on Friday in Kamloops. The Cats will play nine games in 16 days, but first is Wednesday’s visit by ex-teammate Garrett Thiessen and the Prince Albert Raiders.
“We have five wins, and the points now are crucial because you never know when you’re going to need them,” said Schoneck.
“We have to beat the teams that are right beside us in the standings, and the teams that are perceived to be below us. We also have to compete against the teams that are above us. (Chilliwack) is one of the teams we didn’t have success against last year, and that’s a big part of why we didn’t make the playoffs. We have 11 more (doubleheaders) to go and we want to take pride in that as a group.”
KITTY LITTER -- Ex-Cougars defenceman Chris Vanduynhoven, 19, played on the wing on Saturday, an odd choice for a Bruins team that is on the record seeking veteran blueline help... Scratched by Schoneck were numbers decisions Corey Tyrell, Bruin McDonald, Cody Rainaldi, and Nick Buonassisi... The Cougars outshot the Bruins 40-38, but it was the Bruins who had the edge in power-play chances -- 1-8 compared to 0-3.
 |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 05 October 2008 )
|
|
|
Who's Online
We have 188 guests and 15 members online
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
