Ty Edmonds is now officially on the Prince George Cougars' list of the all-time greatest puckstoppers.
He set that record straight Saturday night in Spokane with a nearly-perfect 30-save performance that locked up a 2-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs.
Edmonds set a new Cougars' Prince George franchise record for most career saves five minutes into the second period when he turned aside a point shot from Chiefs defenceman Nolan Reid. It was Edmonds' 5,005th save, breaking the all-time standard set by Scott Myers, who played for the Cats from 1996-2000. Edmonds now has 5,013 saves in five seasons, dating back to 2012.
"It's something I try to keep out of my head but it's something I keep coming back to and my teammates, from when I was 17 all the way on to now, have been amazing and they've helped me get to where I need to be now," said Edmonds. "It's more of a team effort than anything for me and I'm just happy I can reach these records with the great teammates I've had and have now."
With the win, the Cougars (26-8-2-0) go into the Christmas break first overall in the Western Hockey League with 54 points. Now exactly at the halfway mark, having played 36 games, they are 10 points ahead of Kelowna and Kamloops, leading the B.C. Division standings.
"It's definitely something special, we all know we have it wiin our team to strive for that greatness and it's something we're proud of but we know our work's not done yet," said Edmonds. "We'll have a bit of rest but I know we'll come back even stronger in the second half and show the league what we're made of."
The 20-year-old Edmonds also tied Myers for the most career games played in goal (188). Saturday's win was his 89th regular season win, just six wins shy of the career record of 95 owned by Myers.
Edmonds had to be sharp to bail out his team in the late stages when the Cougars started feeling the effects of playing four games in five nights. Like he has done so often throughout his career, the Winnipeg native gave his team a big shoulder to lean upon.
"When you get into games like this your goaltender has to be your best player and Eddy was tonight, like Nick (McBride) was for us (Friday) night in Seattle, and that's the balance of this team," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. "We have somebody different stepping up each night and that makes my job easy.
"Eddy set that record and congratulations to him."
Aaron Boyd notched the gamewinner 14:11 into the third period. The 19-year-old centre put on a burst of speed to track down Kody McDonald's chip-in along the right wing boards turned and beat Pavel Kousal with an outside move as he cut into the slot, scoring on a shot through the legs of Chiefs goalie Dawson Weatherill. It was the first goal in 13 games and fourth of the season for Boyd, who continues to be the Cougars' plus/minus leader, now with a plus-16 rating.
The Chiefs pulled Weatherill with 3:47 left and that move to get the extra skater worked when Keanu Yamamoto jammed in a rebound that slipped through under the pads of a kneeling Edmonds with 3:19 left. The Chiefs came close a few times in the final two minutes. Ethan McIndoe had the best chance but was robbed at point-blank range by Edmonds with 51 seconds left.
"Overall it was ugly, there was no doubt we made some mistakes we shouldn't have made but it's hard for these young men knowing they're going home to see their families and their girlfriends and people they haven't seen in three or four months so it's great to see them going out of here with a win," said Matvichuk. "We looked at the scores and knew everybody else in our division got two points so it was a must for us and we found a way."
The Cougars grabbed the lead 5:07 into the game, scoring on their first power-play chance. Defenceman Tate Olson let go a one-timed slapper fed to him by Brad Morrison from behind the Spokane net and it hit something in front of Dawson Weatherill before it went into the net between the goalie's legs.
It was the fourth consecutive game the Cougars' power play connected. The Cats finished 1-for-2 on the power play and they kept the Chiefs from scoring on their three chances.
Coached by Prince George minor hockey product Don Nachbaur, who was sporting a bright red, white and green Christmas blazer and tie behind the Spokane bench, the Chiefs hadn't played since Tuesday and they wore down the Cougars. Edmonds had to withstand a second-period Spokane surge to earn his spot in the record book. Hudson Elynuik tested him on a partial breakaway two minutes into the period and the Chiefs used their third power play of the game 13 minutes into the second to generate sustained pressure in the Cougars' end. That power play had just expired when Morrison put a pass attempt right on the stick blade of Kousal. The Czech import cruised in alone and forced Edmonds to kick out his pad to make a tough save and keep the Cougars ahead 1-0.
Although they didn't combine as a unit on the scoreboard, the line of Brogan O'Brien with wingers McDonald and Justin Almeida was by far the most effective for the Cougars Saturday. The six-foot-three, 200-pound O'Brien finished his checks, forced turnovers and got to loose pucks which led to scoring chances for him and his linemates.
"As of the last two weeks Brogan been unreal," said Matvichuk. "He's using his body and his size to get to the ugly areas and he's doing the right things and that's why he's been rewarded with the icetime he has been getting. He won two key faceoffs at the end of the game there and as a 19-year-old he has to be one of the guys we lean on down the stretch here."
The Cougars are off until Dec. 27, when they gather in Vancouver for a practice before heading to Victoria for games against the Royals, Dec. 28 and 29.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars played the first game of their trip Friday in Kent, Wash., a 3-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Cats RW Jesse Gabrielle missed his second game Saturday with an upper-body injury, he suffered in the third period Wednesday against Tri-City.
Saturday's WHL summary
Cougars 2 at Chiefs 1
First Period
1. Prince George, Olson 3 (Morrison, Khomenko) 5:07 (pp)
Penalties - Smith Spo (tripping) 4:40, Helgesen Spo (interference) 11:51, O'Brien PG (roughing) 16:02, Lakusta PG (roughing) 19:12.
Second Period
No scoring.
Penalties - McAuley PG (high-sticking) 13:10.
Third Period
2. Prince George , Boyd 4 (McDonald) 14:11
3. Spokane, Ke.Yamamoto 14 (Ka.Yamamoto), Anderson-Dolan) 16:41
Penalties - None.
Shots on goal by
Prince George 9 11 8 -28
Spokane 5 14 13 -31
Goal - Prince George, Edmonds (W,20-5-1-0); Spokane, Weatherill (L,6-7-3-0).
Power plays - PG: 1-2; Spo: 0-3.
Attendance - 6,094.
