Well wasn't that special.
The Church Lady from Saturday Night Live fame might have liked all that special teams play Friday night at CN Centre, but the penalty parade put on by the Prince George Cougars and Victoria Royals seriously disrupted the flow of play.
Not that it bothered Jesse Gabrielle.
The 19-year-old Cougars right winger had himself a whale of a game, scoring three goals in a 4-2 win over the Royals. The way Gabrielle was shooting the puck, he could have had five or six goals to celebrate.
Aided and abetted by his linemate, Jansen Harkins, who assisted on all three of his goals, Gabrielle lifted the Cougars (20-6-2-0) to their 20th win of the season as they continued their mastery of B.C. Division opponents. Friday's win improved their record against B.C. teams to 13-1-0-0. They handed the Royals (14-13-2-0) their fourth straight loss.
Penalties were the dominant trait of the first two periods with 15 minors handed out, but neither team's power play could score. Strangely enough, neither team took a penalty in the third period.
It helped the Cougars' cause that they have been one of the Western Hockey League's best penalty-killing teams and they started the game tied with Medicine Hat with an 85.8 per cent success rate. That status was put to a severe test in the first period when they were forced to kill off six consecutive minor penalties, including two two-man disadvantages (one for 36 seconds, the other for 45 seconds), which they did with great efficiency. The defence used its size advantage to muscle out the smaller Royal shooters, the forwards blocked shots and intercepted passes and even generated the best chance of all that special teams time at the other end of the ice.
Kody McDonald set up Brogan O'Brien on a 2-on-1 chance and Griffen Outhouse anticipated the pass and shot across the crease to make the save. When the Royals' power play did get through to the Cougars net, Ty Edmonds was there to deny them.
In the second period, it was the Cougars' turn to strut their stuff on the power play. They gained a two-minute advantage when Chaz Reddekopp was banished for arguing a cross-checking call to teammate Jeremy Masella and Gabrielle twice rang the crossbar with bullet drives before the Royals returned to full strength.
The Royals came close on an odd-man rush while shorthanded nine minutes into the middle frame and Regan Nagy was robbed by a pad save from Edmonds to keep it a 1-1 game.
The goals finally came fast in furious near the tail end of the period. Gabrielle notched his second of the game when he was set up in the slot by Jansen Harkins, who shifted to his backhand along the end boards to avoid a check from Ralph Jarratt. Gabrielle's 15th of the season came at the 14:39 mark.
Gabrielle just missed his hat-trick goal when he nailed the post and on the ensuing rush, Nagy got behind enemy lines and lifted a wrister in behind Edmonds that sent his water bottle flying at 16:26. But the Cougars had an answer for that at 17:21. Colby McAuley took a lead pass from Shane Collins in the fly and took off up the left wing. He let go a high snapper that found the far top corner in behind Outhouse - the fifth game-winner of the season for McAuley.
Gabrielle's third goal, 4:10 into the third period, came as a result of turnover at the Royals' blueline. Harkins stripped the puck away from a Royal forward and Jared Bethune fed it to Gabrielle in the slot and his hard wrister sailed high into the net, which got the hats flying from the crowd of 2,842.
The Cougars finished 0-for-6 on the power play, while Victoria ended up 0-for-9.
The shots finished 30-27 in favour of the Cougars.
The teams traded goals early in the first period. Gabrielle popped in a rebound to open the scoring 4:48 in and Matthew Phillips tied it for the Royals, cashing in a breakaway stretch pass from Ryan Peckford for his league-leading 20th goal.
LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars defenceman Brendan Guhle missed Friday's game and won't be available for the rematch tonight. He's been called up to the NHL by the Buffalo Sabres... The Cougars started a seven-game homestand, their longest stretch of home games this season... The Cougars coaches finalized their choices for their designated leaders Friday and confirmed Sam Ruopp as the captain, with Guhle, McAuley and Gabrielle named assistant captains. Ruopp is the only player in Prince George Cougar history to serve three seasons as the captain.
Game Summary
Royals 2, Cougars 4
First Period
1. Prince George, Gabrielle 14 (Harkins, Anderson) 4:48
2. Victoria, Phillips 20 (Peckford) 6:14
Penalties - Curtis PG (hooking) 1:04, Oliver Vic (roughing), Gabrielle PG (unsportsmanlike conduct) 7:32, Anderson PG (high-sticking) 8:56, Curtis PG (double high-sticking) 10:02, Ruopp PG (hooking) 15:22, Gagnon Vic (interference) 19:34.
Second Period
3. Prince George, Gabrielle 15 (Harkins, Lakusta) 14:39.
4. Victoria, Nagy 7 (Walker) 16:26
5. Prince George, McAuley 12 (Collins) 17:21
Penalties - Bethune PG (tripping) 3:23. Masella Vic (high-sticking), Reddekopp Vic (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:14, Phillips Vic (high-sticking) 8:48, Edmonds PG (interference, served by Almeida) 11:02, Walker Vic (interference) 11:55, Florchuk Vic (tripping) 12:34, Anderson PG (roughing) 18:56.
Third Period
6. Prince George, Gabrielle 16 (Bethune, Harkins) 4:10
Penalties - None.
Shots on goal by
Victoria 14 8 4 -27
Prince George 8 15 7 -30
Goal - Victoria, Outhouse (L,14-10-1-0); Prince George, Edmonds (W,16-3-1-0).
Power plays - VI: 0-9; PG: 0-6.
Referees - Tyler Adair, Fraser Lawrence; Linesmen - Nick Albinati, Nick Bilko.
Attendance - 2,842.
