When he's looking back at his WHL career at the end of this season, Prince George goalie Mack Shields will be smiling when he thinks about what he did to his former Calgary Hitmen teammates when they paid a two-game visit to CN Centre.
He put on the pads Wednesday and turned his six-foot-four, 204-pound body into an impenetrable wall. Shields stopped all 23 shots he faced for his sixth career shutout.
It was a sweet occasion for the 20-year-old from Saskatoon, even better than the previous night when he was also a big factor while making 25 saves in a 5-2 win over his former team.
The Cougars gave Shields plenty of support, scoring early and often, which took a lot of heat off the goaltender. But to be perfect like he was, it was a special night indeed for Shields, who earned his third win of the season.
The Cougars were much better defensively than their opponents, but Shields still had to be sharp, especially late in the game when Layne Bensmiller nearly broke the goose egg twice.
In an eventful first period, the Cougars scored three goals, two while shorthanded, and very nearly had a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Gabrielle got it going 11 minutes in on a 2-on-1 shorthanded break with Brogan O'Brien, wristing a shot in over the right shoulder of Petersen. Then at the 16:10 mark, Cougar pointman Shane Collins put one in through traffic for his first of the season and second career WHL goal.
Late in the period while killing another Cougar penalty, Gabrielle received a gift pass right on the tape of his stick from Hitmen defenceman Michael Zipp and skated in untouched to beat Petersen through the 5-hole for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
Gabrielle had an apparent goal called back 9:27 into the game. Petersen left the net exposed with a bad pass attempt from behind the net but Cougars winger Jared Bethune was caught tripping just before Gabrielle shot the puck into the unoccupied net.
After allowing three goals on nine shots, Petersen was replaced by 17-year-old Kyle Dumba, who's been filling in for injured Hitmen starting goalie Brendan Burke. Dumba played well, blocking 27 of 29 shots in two periods of action.
With Gabrielle leading the rush, the Cougars' penalty-killers came close to scoring again with 2:40 gone in the second period on another 2-on-1. Gabrielle set up Colby McAuley and Dumba had to be sharp to prevent McAuley hard backhander from going in.
McAuley has been quite effective lately playing right wing on the 3M line with Tyler Mrkonjic and Kody McDonald, who had a goal and two assists in Tuesday's win.
Gabrielle was denied a chance to add to the total when he and Hitmen winger Elliot Peterson each received game misconducts after they tangled with each other in a staged fight, 6:50 into the second period.
O'Brien made it 4-0 after a slick individual effort to beat his check, Colby Harmsworth, late in the second period and Jared Bethune capped the scoring, rapping in a puck that bounced off the end boards.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars board the bus today at 10 a.m. bound for Kelowna, where they play the Rockets Friday night. Saturday night in Vancouver, the Cougars play the Giants for the first time this season. Ten of the Cougars' next 13 games are on the road. They went 4-2-0-0 on their six-game homestand... Fifteen-year-old Fort St. John minor hockey product Tristan Nielsen made his WHL debut for the Hitmen Wednesday, centring the fourth line. The Hitmen picked Nielsen 20th overall in the WHL bantam draft. He was called up from the Calgary Edge midget prep team.
