Don't look now but the Prince George Cougars are getting hot and they're plotting a move into the Western Hockey League's high-rent district.
Kody McDonald used his stick to come up with a down payment to help the Cougars' cause. The 17-year-old Cougar winger offered a goal and two assists in a 5-3 victory Wednesday at CN Centre over the Portland Winterhawks to complete a two-game sweep of the visitors from Oregon.
The win moved the third-place Cougars (15-9-1-1) six games above the .500 mark for the first time since the 2010-11 season. They're now six points behind the second-place Victoria Royals in the B.C. Division standings. The Cougars have two games in hand over Victoria.
The Winterhawks dropped to 12-13-0-0. Portland lost the first game of their Prince George trip Tuesday by a 3-2 count but finished that game with a strong third period and wasted no time regaining the momentum in the rematch.
Just as the Cougars scored twice on their first six shots in Tuesday's game, the Hawks needed just six shots to put up a pair on the scoreboard. Less than a minute into the game, Paul Bittner was left unguarded at the side of the Cougar cage and snapped in a behind-the-net feed from linemate Evan Weinger.
Winterhawks defenceman Jack Dougherty made it 2-0 10 minutes later when his innocent-looking wrist shot from the point deflected off the equipment of Cougar defender Luka Zorko in past an unsuspecting Nick McBride.
The Cougar offence came to life in a big way late in the period, creating lengthy stretches of sustained pressure in the Portland end. McDonald's wrist shot from the slot gave Portland goalie Adin Hill trouble. The puck dropped off his chest and Chase Witala drew it back and tucked it into the open side for his 11th of the season.
In the last five minutes of the period the Cougars put 13 shots on goal, and that doesn't include the wide-open shot from close range Cougars centre Brogan O'Brien put over the net from close range. By period's end, the shots were 20-8 in favour of the Cats.
The Cougars tied it 1:14 into the second period. Brad Morrison intercepted a clearing attempt from the goalie Hill and fed the puck in front for Jared Bethune, who went wide across the goalmouth and shot into the empty net.
A couple minutes later Dominic Turgeon, the Hawks' leading scorer, restored the lead on a Portland power play with a shot from 20 feet out. That spelled the end of the night for McBride, replaced by Ty Edmonds after allowing three goals on 11 shots, and the Cougars used that as a wakeup call and dominated puck possession for much of the rest of the game. Edmonds was flawless, stopping all 15 shots he faced.
With 12:48 gone in the second period, Cougars leading scorer Jesse Gabrielle gave the small but partisan crowd of 2,225 what it wanted. Gabrielle used his speed to get free of the Portland defence and launch a high-velocity shot from the face-off circle which ticked off the stick of Keoni Texeira and found the net high over Hill's shoulder to tie it up 3-3.
McDonald's winner came 5:25 into the third period. He took a pass from linemate Luke Harrison and roofed a backhander in behind Hill. Harrison, who joined the Cougars Nov. 25 in a trade from Brandon, collected his second goal as a Cougar to complete the scoring, deflecting McDonald's shot from the circle.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars have now won eight of their last nine games at home, having gained 17 of a possible 18 points during that stretch... The Cats hit the road for their next four games. They'll play Friday in Everett, Sunday in Vancouver, then travel to Portland for back-to-back games Dec. 11 and 12... Tate Olson, the second star of the game Wednesday, was solid as usual on the Cougars' defence. He also contributed an assist on Witala's goal, his team-leading 14th helper.
