Tavin Grant thought he'd saved the day for the Prince George Cougars.
As it turned out, the 16-year-old Cougars goaltender didn't have an answer in overtime for Matt Needham and the Kamloops Blazers.
With Cougars forward Curt Morrison cooling his heels in the penalty box serving an undisciplined tripping penalty, Needham got his stick on a loose puck in the crease after Grant made the first save and dumped it into the net for a 4-3 victory which came 3:34 into OT.
Grant, challenging for a job as a WHL rookie, made the save of the game with 1.1 seconds left in regulation time when he dove across to smother a shot from Blazers forward Quinn Benjafield. That came a minute after Blazers defenceman and Prince George minor hockey product, Josh Connolly tied the game at three apiece with a sharp-angle shot that deflected in off Grant's pads.
The loss was the second in overtime for the Cats in the preseason and they wrapped up exhibition play with a 4-0-2-0 record. Kamloops finished at 5-1-0-0
The Cougars led 2-1 after two periods on goals from Colby McAulay (his fifth of the preseason) and Sam Ruopp, after Jake Kryski had opened the scoring for the Blazers early in the period. Patrick Maier for Kamloops and Morrison for the Cats scored third-period goals.
Ty Edmonds started in net for the Cougars and left after two periods, having stopped all 12 of 13 shots he faced. Cole Kehler gave way to Connor Ingram in goal for the Blazers midway through the second after Ruopp's goal. Kehler made 11 saves and Ingram blocked 16 of 17 shots. The Cougars outshot the Blazers 30-28.
The Cats open the season next Saturday in Portland.
