The Prince George Cougars' plan to dethrone the Victoria Royals in the WHL rankings was foiled by a Rocket barrage on Tuesday.
The Cats lost 7-4 on the road against the Western Conference-leading Kelowna Rockets.
They were looking for a win to do-si-do the Royals in the B.C. Division rankings and move up to second place. But the Rockets had no intention of letting up in front of their home crowd of 4,821 in Prospera Place.
A hooking penalty against the Cats' Jared Bethune a few minutes into the game allowed the Rockets to begin a three-goal opening salvo.
Ty Edmonds was on missile-defence duty for the Cats, intercepting nine of 12 shots on net in the first.
The Cougars only managed a smattering of return fire, but when a cross-checking penalty against the Rockets gave the Cats a man advantage, Tate Olson was able to press the attack home and score with helpers from Chase Witala and Jansen Harkins.
The tension boiled over into hand-to-hand combat late in the first period. The Cougars' Luke Harrison and Kelowna's Riley Stadel were relieved of duty for five minutes each for the fracas.
The Cats shock off the lopsided first period and rallied in the second, battling the Rockets shot for shot and goal for goal.
Colby McAuley landed a short-handed single in the opening seconds of the period, while the Cats' Sam Ruopp was working off the final 18 seconds of a boarding penalty taken in the first period.
The Rockets replied by blasting Edmonds with a barrage of shots that resulted in three goals in just over six minutes.
Brad Morrison replied with a pair of goals, assisted by Olson, Joseph Carvalho and McAuley.
Trailing 6-4 at the end of the second, the Cats pressed the attack home into the Rockets' zone in the third. But while they outshot the Rockets 11-3, they failed to hit the target.
A Kelowna empty-netter with just over two minutes left in the game sealed the Cats' fate.
The Cougars remain in third place in the B.C. Division with 56 points, one point behind second-place Victoria, with neither team having games in hand.
Kelowna padded its division lead out to 65 points.
The final shots on net were 30-29 in favour of the Cougars.
The Cougars are back at home on Friday, hosting the Kamloops Blazers at CN Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.
