One thing was for certain before they even dropped the puck Friday at CN Centre.
Either the Prince George Cougars or the Red Deer Rebels were going to lay the boots to a lengthy losing streak. The Cougars were on a five-game slide and the Rebels had gone four games without the joy of victory.
Backed by a 34-save performance by Ty Edmonds and a two-goal effort from Jesse Gabrielle, the Cougars extended that Rebel famine to five games, beating Red Deer 3-1 in the first of a two-game weekend set.
The game-winner was nothing short of fluky and it came 16:46 into the third period.
Brogan O'Brien atoned for a mistake which led to the tying goal a few minutes later when he won a face-off in the Rebels' end.
Chase Witala tapped the puck back to the point for Tate Olson, who missed the net with his shot but the carom off the end boards hit the back of goalie Dawson Weatherhill's skate and bounced into the net.
It was a weird one but the Cougars gladly accepted.
"We won a face-off and that was the key to the whole thing," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick.
"Any time you can win a face-off in the offensive zone it should be a scoring chances and certainly off that you can get second and thirds. We didn't need the second and third but at the end of the day I thought (Olson) did a good job getting the puck through."
With Weatherhill on the bench, Gabrielle chased down a loose puck and shot into the empty net to wrap up the scoring.
The badly-needed two-point effort left the Cougars with a 32-22-3-1 record, good enough to keep them fourth in the Western Conference. The Rebels (35-21-1-2) remain third in the Eastern Conference.
Edmonds, seeking his first win since Jan. 24, looked sharp from the beginning and kept his focus in what turned out one of his best games of the season. The only shot that beat him was a deflection in front. Luke Philp got the puck in the slot and let it go and it ticked off O'Brien's stick in over his goalie's shoulder.
"Obviously, the goalie has to be one of the better players and it's a lot of pressure but games like this are fun to play in and when you make some good saves and get some help in front of you it definitely makes it a lot easier," said Edmonds.
"We're close to playoffs here and we just have to get some more points and make a good push for home ice in the playoffs."
Edmonds looked calm and relaxed on an extended penalty-kill early in the third period when Olson got set off for a double-minor for high-sticking. The Rebels got good pressure on the power-play but the best scoring chances came late in the penalty kill when Luke Harrison and Jansen Harkins each had great chances that were stopped by Weatherhill.
Edmonds made his best saves in the final period. He dove across to take away a sure goal on a tap-in from Adam Helewka to keep it a 1-0 game and flashed his glove emphatically to rob Jake DeBrusk with 4:40 left.
For the second-straight game the Cougars were firing at a goalie who had never been WHL battle-tested, coming less than a week after Kelowna rookie Brodan Salmond stoned them 6-4. With veteran Ryan Toth out with a lower-body injury, the Rebels called up 16-year-old Weatherhill from the Red Deer Chiefs triple-A midget team for their B.C. Division tour this week.
Sporting a 2.33 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in 20 midget games this season, Weatherhill had never seen firepower as potent as the Cougars, the sixth-highest scoring team in the WHL and he got tested early and often.
The Cougars pounded 15 shots at him in the first period and he was flawless, his best save coming when he kicked out a skate to rob Witala on a 2-on-1 set up by Kody McDonald.
Edmonds had the tougher
shots to deal with in the middle frame, especially when Brendon Hagel and Adam Musil came knocking with point-blank bullets just past the midway point of the period.
The Cougars' top two pointgetters - Witala and Gabrielle - combined to open the scoring eight minutes into the second period.
Gabrielle worked a give-and-go pass to Witala behind the net and buried his linemate's return feed. Gabrielle now has 37 goals this season. Dryden Hunt of the Moose Jaw Warriors, with 45 goals, is the only WHL player more prolific this season.
The teams meet again tonight at CN Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
Friday's Game Summary:
Rebels 1, Cougars 3
First Period
No scoring.
Penalties - Bobyk RD (hooking) 0:28, Bison PG (high-sticking) 12:28.
Second Period
1. Prince George, Gabrielle 36 (Witala, O'Brien) 8:10
Penalties -Harkins PG (high-sticking) 9:03
Third Period
2. Red Deer, Philp 16, 13:36
3. Prince George, Olson 7 (Witala, O'Brien) 16:46
4. Prince George, Gabrielle 37, 18:50 (en)
Penalty - Olson PG (double high-sticking) 1:05.
Shots on goal by
Red Deer 11 11 13 - 35
Prince George 15 7 9 - 31
Goal - Red Deer, Weatherhill (L,0-1-0-0); Prince George, Edmonds (W,18-13-2-0).
Power plays - RD: 0-4; PG: 0-1.
Referees - Adam Byblow, Kyle Kowlaski; Linesmen - Nick Albinati, Bevan Mills.
Attendance - 3,415.
Scratches - Red Deer : C Conner Bleackley (lower body), D Josh Mahura (lower body), RW Reese Johnson (upper body), LW Braden Purtill (upper body), LW Ahash Bains (healthy), D Ethan Sakowich (healthy); Prince George: D Luka Zorko (healthy), Shaun Dosanjh (concussion), RW Adam Kadlec (healthy), RW Josh Curtis (healthy), D Jonas Harkins (healthy), LW Aaron Boyd (healthy), D Josh Anderson (back).
