Not knowing anything about the sporting prowess of Jared Bethune’s extended family, let’s go out on a limb and say even his grandmother would have been able to score the first goal he got Saturday against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
It was that easy.
The second one, however, required the skill of a 20-year-old WHL hockey player who has refined his game to the point where he’s become one of the most valuable Prince George Cougars.
Bethune’s one-timer from the top of the face-off circle on a setup from linemate Aaron Boyd with 2:33 gone in the third period was the kind of zinger you see multi-millionaire NHL players cashing in on, and it made all the difference in the world to the Cougars.
That goal and some game-saving stops from goalie Tavin Grant in the late stages of the game gave the Cougars the edge in a 4-3 victory over the Oil Kings in front of a season-high CN Centre crowd of 4,893.
The win was the third-straight for the Cougars, and it extended the Oil Kings' losing streak to nine games. Prince George (9-9-2-2) remained two points behind the Vancouver Giants for third place in the B.C. Division, while Edmonton (5-15-2-0) continues to dwell in the basement of the 22-team league, no doubt glad to see the end of their five-game B.C. Division tour.
Bethune is a tenacious forechecker who has played on the top scoring line most of the season and he’s been a setup man most of that time. Saturday, playing left wing on a line with Boyd and right winger Josh Curtis, he twice got to lead the celly parade to the bench. His fifth and sixth goals of the season gave him 21 points in 20 games, one shy of Kody McDonald for the team lead.
That line was put together last week in Kamloops to try to spread the offence around and it appears the experiment is working.
“Boyd and I haven’t really played with Bethune and I thought we had our chances and it came in bigtime in the third,” said Curtis. “We beat them pretty well (a 5-1 Cougars win Friday) so we knew they were going to come out hard and we just had to match their play and that's exactly what we did. Three wins straight is big for us because we hadn’t done that this year and it’s a step in the right direction.”
The Cougars looked sluggish in the early going but got out of it relatively unscathed. Tomas Soustal gave the Oil Kings their first lead of the weekend after linemate Trey Fix-Wolansky did most of the work, kicking in the afterburners to blast around defenceman Cole Moberg with an outside move. Soustal shoved the rebound in behind Grant.
The Cougars tied it just 53 seconds later and took the lead 40 seconds after that. Hometown boy Brogan O’Brien has been on a hot streak lately and scored his fourth in three games after he crashed the crease in front of rookie goalie Boston Bilous and tucked in a backhander.
On the ensuing attack as defenceman Josh Anderson wristed a shot on goal lanky centre Ethan O’Rourke went to the net and used his albatross reach to go wide with the puck to find the net behind Bilous.
In the second period, with O’Brien off for cross-checking, Bilous gave Bethune one of the easiest goals he’s scored in his four-year WHL career. The 16-year-old rookie goalie left his crease to chase down a loose puck along the side boards and tried to pass to defenceman Matthew Robertson but fanned on it and the puck slid right onto the stick blade of Bethune, who shot it in for a 3-1 lead.
The Oil Kings did not let that get to them. In fact, they got even.
On the same power play, Edmonton captain Colton Kehler had time to fake out Grant with a delayed shot from the slot to make it 3-2. Then with six minutes gone in the second period, rookie centre Liam Keeler was set up in front by Ty Gerla from the corner, the first of Keeler’s WHL career.
That provided the momentum spike the Oil Kings desperately needed. They seemed intent on making up for their goalie’s mistake and took control of the game, totally dominated puck possession the rest of the period while keeping the Cougars without a sniff at the Edmonton net. Although they outplayed the Cats, they couldn’t score.
Edmonton gave the Cougars all they could handle in the late stages of the game but Grant took up the challenge, making several tough saves including a real show-stopper with his glove when Soustal launched a bullet from the slot with 2:30 left.
“It’s back-to-back (games) and it’s trying to have that mental brain power to stick to the program and we got away from that in the second period with a little run-and-gun and we didn’t get pucks in deep,” said Cougars associate coach Steve O’Rourke. “The penalties just killed that flow. We’re a real solid four-line hockey club, we just roll, roll, roll, and all of a sudden you kill momentum and some guys are playing more than others and that led to turnovers. We came back in the third and got it rolling better.”
Anderson missed 14 games with a separated shoulder that kept him sidelined for a month until he returned to the ice Friday. He was noticeable in both weekend games for his shot-blocking ability, zone breakouts and his net-front presence.
Anderson wasn’t throwing his weight around like he’s been known to, but give him time. The Cougars are relieved to have another veteran back on the blueline so they don’t get caught with rookies trying to shut down top-line forwards. He was not on the ice for any of the Edmonton goals Saturday and finished the game a plus-3.
“In the second there we went through a bit of a lapse but in the intermission we talked about playing a solid 20 in the third, which we did, and fortunately we got the victory,” said Anderson.
“The next goal decided the game, basically, and it was a huge goal that Bethune potted. He’s set up a lot of goals and he’s very skilled offensively and he has the determination to win.”
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars host the Central Division-leading Medicine Hat Tigers (13-7-0-0) tonight and Wednesday. The Oil Kings last won Oct. 20 in Edmonton when they beat the Cougars 5-4 in a shootout…. Fix-Wolansky’s third-period power-play goal Friday with the Cougars two players short marked the first time in 39 opportunities the Cats had allowed a power-play goal. That streak started Nov. 3 in Everett. Prince George still has the league’s best penalty kill, operating at 86.2 per cent efficiency.
