Prince George Cougars rookies Justin Almeida and Brogan O'Brien served notice Saturday they're ready for the frenetic pace and punishing physicality of the Western Hockey League.
They each scored twice to lift the Cougars to a 6-5 preseason win over the Cougars' archrivals, the Kamloops Blazers.
Almeida, who played last season for the major midget Cariboo Cougars, was dominant in the faceoff circle and almost had his first WHL hat trick, nailing the goalpost with an empty-netter attempt with 15 seconds left. The 16-year-old from Kitimat offered a CN Centre crowd of 3,108 a glimse of what to expect from the Cougars' highly-touted first-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft.
He used linemate O'Brien as a screen to collect his first of the game which tied the game 2-2 early in the second period and O'Brien took that as incentive to get into the goal-scoring act. The former Prince George Spruce King centre banged in two rebounds in the middle frame to give the Cougars a lead they held the rest of the game.
Kamloops-P.G. matchups never fail to deliver heated battles and Saturday's game was no exception, punctuated by a handful of bone-jarring hits which led to flared tempers, but not an overabundance of penalties. The Cougars went 1-for-5 on the power play while Kamloops was 0-for-4.
O'Brien, an 18-year-old Prince George native blessed with speed and soft hands which serve him well as a goalscorer, knows what to expect when the Blazers come to town.
"They're always tough games against those guys so it's good to get the "W' against them for sure, it was lots of fun," said O'Brien. "Playing in the big rink is fun and it will be even better once we get more and more fans every game."
It was still anybody's game in the third period.
Leading 4-2, the Cougars started the period at the tail end of a penalty kill and Jared Bethune used the opportunity to show off some of the moves which earned him an invitation to the Minnesota Wild rookie camp, which wrapped up last week. The 18-year-old Minnesota native chipped the puck ahead and broke in alone to deke out rookie defenceman Nolan Kneen and slid the puck into the open side behind goalie Dylan Ferguson while getting knocked off both feet.
Having given up four unanswered goals, the Blazers offered significant push-back. Colin Shirley picked up his second goal of the game, pivoting as he let go a shot from the slot which found the target behind Mack Shields at the 5:49 mark. Then at 11:20, Luke Harrison got free on a partial breakaway and scored when a poke check attempt from Shields bounced up and over the 20-year-old goalie.
Almeida took a pass from linemate Kody McDonald and went t his backhand when Ferguson made the original save for his fourth of the preseason and Harrison kept up the suspense 22 seconds later, which made for excitement in the final three minutes but no more scoring.
It was a good win by us, our whole line was clicking the whole night," said Almeida. "We play Kamloops quite a bit and I love rivalries like that. It's going to get chippy at times but that's what makes the league fun."
Colby Johnson and Jared Bethune also scored for the Cougars and defenceman Joe Carvalho collected two assists. Colin Shirley had a two-goal outing for Kamloops, and Jesse Zaharichuk picked up a goal and two assists.
With the win, the Cougars finish the preseason at 3-2-0-1, while the Blazers ended up 2-3-0-0.
The teams experimented with the new 3-on-3 five-minute overtime format and each teams scored a goal. Harrison got his unofficial third of the game 28 seconds into OT and O'Brien followed suit 3:25 in, converting a give-and-go play with Jordan Ross.
Ty Edmonds started in net for the Cougars and gave up two goals on 11 shots. Cole Kehler allowed three goals on 21 shots before the mid-game switch. Shots ended up 33-31 Kamloops.
The Cougars on Sunday reassigned defencemen Riley Mohr and Peter Kope. Mohr will play for the Notre Dame Hounds of the SJHL, while Kope is destined for the CAC Edmonton Caadjuans midget team. They still have 27 players and have to get their roster down to 25 by Oct. 10. The Cagts start the season Friday at home against Everett.
LOOSE PUCKS: Two Blazers and five Cougars were out of the lineup Saturday, still with their respective NHL teams. The Kamloops pro prospects are D Ryan Rehill (New Jersey) and RW Deven Sideroff (Anaheim), while Prince George was missing C Jansen Harkins (Winnipeg), C Brad Morrison (New York Rangers), D Sam Ruopp (Columbus), RW Jesse Gabrielle (Boston) and D Tate Olson (Vancouver). LW Chase Witala returned Wednesday from the Dallas Stars camp but did not dress for the Cougars.
