Richard Matvichuk wasn't holding a hockey stick Wednesday when he conjured the ghost of Vancouver Canucks coach Roger Neilson and waved a white towel in protest.
Matvichuk was fed up with on-ice officials when, four minutes into the third period and the Cougars tied 2-2 with the Kelowna Rockets, the guys in stripes pointed to Cougars winger Jackson Leppard and sent him to the box for an extra two minutes after he and Rockets forward Erik Gardiner had exchanged slashes. A cross-checking penalty was tacked onto Leppard's sentence and the Cougar bench erupted, resulting in Matvichuk being assessed a two-minute bench penalty.
The Cougars successfully killed off the full two-minute 5-on-3 disadvantage but one second after Leppard returned to the ice, Cal Foote took a pass in the slot to score the go-ahead goal and the Rockets never looked back.
They scoring five consecutive goals in the third period to beat the Cougars 6-3 in front of 4,461 witnesses at Prospera Place in Kelowna.
The win clinched the WHL B.C. Division championship for the Rockets (41-22-5-2), their first regular-season title since 2015. The winless streak for the Cougars (23-38-5-4) was extended to six games.
Tempers continued to boil in the third period and the Cougars had just killed off another 5-on-3 situation when Dillon Dube redirected a shot that trickled through the legs of goalie Taylor Gauthier 14 minutes into the period and Foote added to the total 29 seconds later, scoring on a wraparound. Brayden Chyzen also scored for Kelowna before Ryan Schoettler countered for the Cats on a Prince George power play.
The Cougars led 2-1 after two periods on goals from Aaron Boyd and Brogan O'Brien. Kaedan Korczak and Nolan Foote notched the first two Kelowna goals.
The Rockets went 0-for-8 on the power play while Prince George was 1-for-4.
Gauthier was named the game's third star, making 44 saves.
James Porter picked up the win in the Kelowna nets as the Rockets outshot the Cougars 50-18.
The Cougars wrap up their road trip Friday night in Kamloops. The Blazers will travel to Prince George for the season-ender for both teams Saturday night.
