Brogan O'Brien was the Prince George Cougars' road warrior Wednesday night in Cranbrook.
The 19-year-old centre and Prince George native scored two goals, including the gamewinner, and was named the first star in the Cougars' 5-2 win over the Kootenay ICE.
The red-hot Cougars (12-2-1-0) improved their road record to a perfect 7-0, further solidifying their hold on top spot overall in the Western Hockey League. The Cats are now nine points in front of the second-place Victoria Royals (8-6-0-0) in the B.C. Division standings.
Jansen Harkins also had a two-goal night for the Cougars. The 19-year-old Winnipeg Jets draft pick gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead on their only power-play chance, 7:01 into the second period, and also fired an insurance marker 5:48 into the third period. Harkins also assisted on Brad Morrison's team-leading seventh goal of the season, an empty-netter which capped the scoring 18:45 into the third period. Jesse Gabrielle and Colby McAuley each had two assists.
O'Brien played on a new forward combination with Gabrielle and Kody McDonald.
"We had a good week of practice and the way we came out, we were good in the first, better in the second and we were really good in the third," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk, in the post-game broadcast. "That's our ultimate goal to come on the road and play with our style for three periods."
Austin Wellsby and Noah Philp scored for Kootenay (1-8-3-1, which has now lost eight consecutive games. The ICE went 0-for-2 on the power play against the league's best penalty-killing team and both those penalties came two seconds apart early in the third period. Through 15 games, the Cats' penalty-killers have now successfully killed off 89.4 per cent of their opponents' chances.
Nick McBride was at his best in that 5-on-3 disadvantage, making several key saves on his way to blocking 33 shots in his first start in five games.
"(McBride) was outstanding," said Matvichuk. "He made some real big saves early in the first two periods and he just got better as it went along. Nick had a tough outing his last game and he worked really hard in practice. He was out there to the end and took as many shots as he could. I'm so happy with him, the way he bounced back was great."
The Cougars fired 33 shots at ICE goalie Jakob Walter, who took the loss.
The Cougars play next on Friday in Lethbridge where they'll take on the 5-6-1-1 Hurricanes. On Saturday the Cats face the Calgary Hitmen.
