When the Prince George Cougars signed Patrick Gora last week to play as a goalie, point production wasn't one of the assets the Cats had in mind when they pried him away from the junior A Camrose Kodiaks.
But in his first WHL game Saturday in Victoria, Gora passed the puck to Cougars defenceman Josh Connolly, who finished off an end-to-end rush with a power-play goal in the third period to cap the scoring in a 5-2 loss to the Royals.
The point was not awarded until after the league had viewed the tape and Gora didn't find out he'd made the scoresheet until he showed up at the rink for practice Monday.
"I was talking to my coaches and they said, 'Did you know you got an assist in your first WHL game?' and I said no," said Gora. "I don't mind playing the puck."
Gora makes three in a crowded Cougar crease with 18-year-old Ty Edmonds and 16-year-old Tavin Grant also fighting for game time. The Cougars want somebody to take the reins and become the No. 1 goalie and Gora is prepared to do whatever it takes to earn that starting position.
"The Cougars were looking for a goalie and I thought it would be a good opportunity to come here," said the five-foot-11, 195-pound Gora. "It's kind of been one of my dreams to play in the WHL, it's really good hockey. It's not a big transition but the speed of the game is a lot faster and the shots are a lot better and plays happen so much faster.
Gora grew up in St. Albert, Alta., where he played minor hockey with Cougars forward Tyler Mrkonjic, and grew up watching the Edmonton Oil Kings become a championship-calibre team.
"I was a little nervous because it was my first game in the Western League but I thought I played alright," said Gora. "It was a big step from the AJHL to the WHL, for sure.
"I had a lot of good friends in Camrose and we were ranked second [nationally] in the CJHL so were going to go on a bigtime playoff run and hopefully the RBC and it was hard to leave. But they're looking for a No. 1 guy here and hopefully that can be me."
After posting stellar numbers in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with Camrose -- a 19-4-1-0 record, 1.98 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and five shutouts -- the Royals power play gave Gora a rude welcome in his WHL debut, scoring twice in the game's first four minutes. Cal Babych was penalized for four minutes for high-sticking and four seconds later Aaron Macklin was sent off for tripping and the Royals made them pay. Greg Chase and Brandon Magee both scored on the 5-on-3 opportunities and the Cougars never recovered.
"We welcomed him to the league with two 5-on-3s and that didn't help," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "They scored two goals on him, 5-on-3. Guys are having a hard time staying out of the penalty box. That seems to be our mantra.
"I thought his positioning was good, he's very calm and very quiet. I liked that he's not a very active goalie, he's very controlled. It's obviously a different league, the speed is quicker and he's going to have to catch up with that."
Cougars goaltending coach Justin Cardinal said Gora's patient style serves him well. He rarely gets caught out of position.
"He's a very economically smart goaltender and doesn't get overly aggressive on plays, he likes to sit back and let the play come to him -- nothing flashy but effective," said Cardinal. "He doesn't take himself away from the play to make one save. The next step is adjusting to the speed of the game and throught this week he's showing lots of improvement to handle that speed."
The Cougars (20-23-1-0) have just three wins and an overtime loss to show for their last 10 games and are just one point ahead of the fourth-place Vancouver Giants (19-21-1-1), who have played two fewer games than the Cougars. They have a tough test this weekend at CN Centre with the Portland Winterhawks coming to town for a two-game series Friday and Saturday.
The Winterhawks got off to a tough 0-6 start this season when they had nine players away at NHL camp but the four-time defending WHL Western Conference champs have found their groove and were just seven points behind the U.S. Division-leading Everett Silverips heading into Wednesday's game in Portland. In their only game against the 'Hawks this season, Sept. 20 in Portland, the Cougars skated to a 6-3 win.
The Cougars have allowed 177 goals through 44 games and that forced them to seek goaltending help. Of the 22 WHL teams, only the Saskatoon Blades have a worse goals-against average. The Cougars are the most penalized team in the league (an average 19.6 minutes per game) and have the worst penalty-killing (they're successful just 72.2 per cent of the time).
"We just have to find a way to get some consistency in the back end, and that's everybody," said Holick. "That's D-zone coverage, that's staying out of the penalty box, the back check, all our defensive play comes into play.
"The guys have to figure it out on their own that they can't be six or seven times in the penalty box each game. Your goaltender is your best penalty-killer so when you're getting goaltending that's been up and down all season long it's going to affect your special teams."
Holick said Edmonds will start Friday's game.
LOOSE PUCKS: RW David Soltes will return to the Cougar lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. Soltes won a bronze medal for Slovakia Jan. 1 at the world junior hockey championship... Cats forward Jansen Harkins has been named an assistant captain for Team Orr at the 2015 BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game Jan. 22 in St. Catharines, Ont. With 13 goals and 49 points in 44 games, the 17-year-old Harkins leads the Cougars in scoring.
