Jesse Forsberg was in the spirit of giving Saturday night.
The Prince George Cougars' captain's bone-crushing hit on the Vancouver Giants' forward Jordan Martinook late in the third period unleashed the fury of the visitors at CN Centre and the frustration of the 4,696 fans, who littered the ice with Teddy Bears after the
resulting fisticuffs.
"I kind of owe him something," said Jesse's younger brother Alex Forsberg after the Cougars fell 3-1 to their Western Hockey League rivals. "He got us the power play and we scored on it."
The Cougars (12-19-0-2) are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league - 83 goals in 34 games - and it didn't get any easier with the largest crowd of the season anticipating seeing the hundreds of furry creatures flying down to the ice.
In fact the Cougars teased the fans in the first minute of the second period when forward Greg Fraser hopped on a loose puck at his blueline and skated down the side of the ice on a shorthanded opportunity.
Giants' goaltender Adam Morrison made the save, but the rebound sat in the slot as Austin Daae drove into the zone. Daae's shot beat Morrison, but after video review, and a few dozen bears thrown out, was ruled to have not crossed the line when it hit the crossbar.
The Giants (21-12-1-1) opened the scoring soon after when Cain Franson's beat Drew Owsley with a quick low shot from point-blank range. Franson gave the Giants a 2-0 advantage before the period was over with his 13 goal of the season and fifth point in the two-game weekend series with the Cougars.
Prince George has a 1-4-0-1 record versus the Giants this season, with two games to play in Vancouver on Dec. 30 and Jan. 10.
It wasn't a shock Alex Forsberg potted the Cougars only goal as the 16-year-old rookie has seven points (four goals, three assists) against the Giants this season, including both markers in Friday's 3-2 loss.
It took the younger Forsberg 65 seconds, plus the 15 minutes it took to clean the ice after the fight, to beat Morrison, closing the gap to 2-1, as a few stray bears flew onto the ice giving the men in stripes a workout as they collected them. An empty-net goal by Austin Vetteri sealed the win for the Giants.
"We would've liked to do it with a goal but we got them out there and got a little momentum," said Jesse Forsberg about giving the bears their freedom. "It stings to lose, but we came back and I thought we battled hard at the end."
Only three of the Cougars' 12 wins this season have come on home ice, a place they'll have to learn to win with 21 games remaining at CN Centre.
The captain said the Cougars' effort was
better Saturday then it was the night before.
"The building was pretty electric [Saturday], obviously it's a lot of fun playing when there's lots of people in the stands," said Jesse Forsberg. "[Friday] was unacceptable. We weren't very good. There was two guys that played their hearts out, my brother and [Drew] Owsley."
Cougars' coach Dean Clark echoed his captain's sentiment, adding that Owsley has given the team an opportunity to win almost every game.
"We were close at the end again, but it's another one-goal game that we don't get," said Clark. "We've got to find a way to be better at home at winning those one-goal games."
The Cougars have dropped eight games on home ice by one goal.
"We're going into the break to recharge and will be ready to get going against Calgary," said Clark, regarding the only visit by the Hitmen (17-15-2-1) to Prince George this season Dec. 28.
But the Cougars will be without their leading scorer, Alex Forsberg and his 11 goals and 26 points, as well as Jordan Tkatch and Jarrett Fontaine, all of whom will join Team West at the World Under-17 tournament in Windsor.
Chase Witala is also headed east to help Team Pacific improve upon their bronze-
medal finish last year in Winnipeg.
"We've got to find some scoring from some different guys here," said Clark. "We had a little bit of tough luck today finishing, I think Austin Daae should've had probably about three goals."
