Last season, Troy Bourke was a rookie shooter in the WHL.
Now, with 72 games (regular season and playoffs) under his belt, the 17 year old is considered a veteran. Bourke's been-there, done-that attitude helped the Prince George Cougars leave Jasper with a 2-1 pre-season win over the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night.
Bourke batted in a loose puck that had defected into the slot with 40.1 seconds left in the third period, less than a minute after Cougars defenceman Shane Pilling had tied it up at 18:23.
The Cougars iced a lineup with five 16 year olds and the efforts of the young guns provided a spark, said third-year defenceman Daniel Gibb.
"The last couple games the older guys have been kind of rusty and the younger guys led the way," Gibb said. "That youthful enthusiasm brought our team to the win, then we had a couple veterans step up and score a couple goals late in the period. We started off not getting pucks to the net like we were supposed to and in the third we threw a couple on net and good things happened."
Dysin Mayo connected on a power play for the only Edmonton goal late in the first period. Rookie Tyler Santos in net. Santos made 11 saves before giving up the crease at the halfway mark to Drew Owsley, who stopped all seven shots he faced. Oil Kings goalie Tristan Jarry stopped 33 of 35 shots.
The game was played in front of about 2,500 spectators who turned out to mark the 50th anniversary of Jasper Arena. The game was a fundraiser for a Jasper museum.
The Oil Kings beat the Cougars 4-1 in Prince George on Friday.
The Cougars resume their exhibition schedule Wednesday night in Kamloops, then host the Blazers in a rematch at CN Centre Friday night.
n The Regina Pats traded former Prince George Spruce Kings goalie Damien Ketlo Sunday to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2012 WHL bantam draft. Ketlo, a 20 year old from Fort Fraser, played 114 WHL games over three seasons with Regina, compiling a career goals-against average of 3.81 with a .888 save percentage.
