Chase Witala energized his Prince George Cougars' teammates and the crowd with his gritty play in the third period Friday but it wasn't enough.
The 16-year-old rookie potted his fifth goal of the Western Hockey League season but his former major midget Cariboo Cougars' teammate Jared Rathjen stole the show, stopping Witala several times in the final period in backstopping his Victoria Royals to the 4-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 1,755 at CN Centre.
For Rathjen it was his first career WHL win and allowed the Royals (19-36-2-4) to move four points up on the Cougars (19-39-0-2) in the race for final two playoff positions in the Western Conference. The win moves the Royals two points ahead of the idle Seattle Thunderbirds (20-37-1-1) into seventh place, while the Cougars remain in last, a point in arrears of the Everett Silvertips (16-35-1-8,) who fell 4-2 in Tri-City.
Rathjen made 26 saves in the win, including 11 in the final period, allowing only the early goal by Witala which brought the Cougars to within one at 3-2. In addition to stoning Witala and his linemates, Jordan Tkatch and Jarrett Fontaine, Rathjen poked the away from Greg Fraser on a nice three-way passing play with Campbell Elynuik and Caleb Belter late in the game.
Robin Soudek iced the game with his 23rd goal of the season for the Royals into the empty net with three seconds to play.
A pair of second-period goals had the Royals up 3-1 after 40 minutes. Dakota Conroy broke a 1-1 tie midway through the period with his ninth goal of the season before Royals' right-winger Austin Carroll gave the visitors a two-goal cushion, beating Cougars' goalie Drew Owsley with two minutes remaining in the period. Owsley made 22 saves in the loss.
Rathjen picked up an assist on defenceman Hayden Rintoul's 15th goal of the season during a first period power play for the Royals giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. Fraser pulled the Cougars into a 1-1 tie before the period was done with his 15th of the season. Elynuik and Dan Gibb picked up the helpers.
The teams clash for the final time this season at 7 p.m. tonight.
