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Rockets blast Cougars |
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Written by JASON PETERS
Citizen staff
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Friday, 21 November 2008 |
The Kelowna Rockets scored on their first shot on goal. It was a bad sign for the Prince George Cougars, who never did recover and were beaten 7-3 by the Rockets Friday night at CN Centre.
Brandon McMillan, who finished the night with a hat trick and two assists, was the man who got the Rockets fired up just 1:29 into the Western Hockey League game. He took a feed from linemate Dylan Hood and stepped behind the Prince George defence for a one-on-one opportunity against Cougars goalie Kevin Armstrong. McMillan successfully deked to his backhand, and marked the beginning of the end for the home team.
Hood scored his own goal a few minutes later on a redirect in front of the Prince George net, and then assisted on a marker by Tyler Myers. The mammoth Myers - he’s listed at six-foot-seven and 211 pounds - was allowed to walk right in on Armstrong and then shot low to the far corner. Just like that, it was 3-0 for the Rockets, who were making the Cougars defence look totally outmatched. That proved to be the case the whole night.
Yes, the Cougars did finally score, a goal by local overager Brian Matte at 18:21 of the first. Matte, off the rush, picked a corner on Kelowna goalie Adam Brown. But, any confidence for the Cats was quickly cracked by Kelowna’s Cody Almond when he beat Armstrong from in front just seconds before the period ended. Again, no Prince George defender was there to put Almond on his backside.
Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck replaced Armstrong with backup goaltender Joe Caligiuri to start the second period. Armstrong did seem to be fighting the puck, but the move by Schoneck was a mercy pull if ever there was one. If Schoneck was hoping the switch would spark his team, he would be disappointed.
The Rockets put two more goals on the board in the middle period, both of them by McMillan for his hat trick. First, he snapped home a one-timer while he was standing unchecked in the slot and, later, he cruised around two Cougars defenders and tucked a backhand past Caligiuri.
In the third, Alex Poulter for the Cougars and Colin Long for the Rockets exchanged goals before Cougars rookie sensation Brett Connolly had a centering pass from Dana Tyrell bounce in off his shinpad in the final minute.
In many ways, this game was a back-alley mugging, so it was fitting that Hood finished the night with five points - the one goal and four helpers. McMillan, with his hat trick, scored as many goals Friday night as he had managed during his 23 previous games. The line of Hood, McMillan and Long burned the Cougars for 12 points.
Connolly - as he has been many nights this season - was the best of the Cougars. He at least had some jump in his legs and did his best to create offence inside the Kelowna blueline. Connolly made a nice drag-and-shoot move in the first that gave goaltender Brown trouble. In the second, the 16-year-old Connolly worked his way right in on Brown, and the play resulted in momentary pressure for the Cats. Connolly also put a puck off the post late in the third period before he finally scored the last-minute goal, his 14th of the season.
The Cougars actually outshot the Rockets, 29-27.
The result dropped the Cougars’ record to 10-15-0-1. The Rockets moved to 15-10-0-0.
The Cougars will try their luck against the Rockets again tonight at CN Centre. The puck will drop at 7 p.m.
KITTY LITTER -- Kelowna lost its intended starting goaltender to injury during Friday’s game-day skate. Kris Lazaruk took a shot off an exposed part of his knee and didn’t even dress for the game. That opened the door for Prince George product Marcus Beesley to serve as the Rockets’ backup. Beesley normally stops shots for the major midget Cariboo Cougars... The game marked the return of Cougars forward Marek Viedensky, who had been sitting out because of concussion-like symptoms.... Announced attendance was 2,347.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 21 November 2008 )
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Prince George fans have proved that if the cougar's win they will return to the CN center but if you keep jerking us around with crap teams fans will do other things. We love hockey but do like being slighted by a sub par organization why doesn't Brodski prove to PG hockey fans that he is really interested in creating a winner by getting some proven winners in this town to run the hockey team from the top down. As long as Brodskies keep running this team by which family member needs a job. nothing will change. Its been said that the proof of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. this team is insane.
The only time the Brodski family has been involved in a memorial cup champion ship was in Saskatoon's and that is because the Blades at thew time hosted the the CHL championship.
All we want in Prince George Mr Brodski is team that can legitamently compete every few years. Please do some thing different like win.