Beautiful goals, shutdown defence, a six-game winning streak, and a crowd of more than 2,000 in the building -- the Prince George Cougars had a lot to celebrate Saturday night in a 7-1 win over the Red Deer Rebels.
Just about everything the Cougars did on the ice at CN Centre was better than what they showed in their 5-3 win over the Rebels Friday night and it gave the Cats their first six-pack of WHL wins since October 2005.
To put into perspective just how long ago that happened to a Cougars team, winger Brad Morrison was eight years old at the time playing tyke hockey in Prince George. On Saturday, the 17-year-old Morrison was one of three Cougars who scored twice on the Rebels. His deke on Red Deer defenceman Kayle Doetzel in the third period led to one of those aforementioned beauties.
Morrison's line, with centre Jordan Tkatch and Cougars captain Troy Bourke, created magical moments that left the crowd of 2,156 hungry for more. Tkatch had four assists and Bourke finished off a two-goal, two-assist night with an electrifying deke in the slot for his 21st goal this season.
Then there was Todd Fiddler, doing what he does best, scoring goals. His first of the game came while shorthanded late in the second period, his fourth shortie of the season to make it 4-0, and he capped the scoring late with his 36th of the season on a 2-on-1 feed from Tkatch.
Cats goalie Adam Beukeboom, who had to make 47 saves on Friday, had an relatively easy night, stopping 17 shots as the Cats outshot the Rebels 38-18. The Cougars didn't flinch when Aspen Sterzer scored for Red Deer 26 second into the third period, they kept their feet matted on the gas pedal and scored three more goals.
"We're winning lots now and it's the belief in the room we can score five goals a night and if we're down one or two it doesn't seem to faze us anymore," said Bourke. "We're coming back in games and starting games better and it's exciting. It shows guys are paying the price when you're up 7-1 and guys like [Jansen] Harkins are laying out and blocking shots. For a captain, that's pretty cool to see."
Joseph Carvalho continued to impress and should have had his fourth goal of the season but was outright robbed by Patrik Bartosak early in the game. Carvalho and his defence partner Martin Bobos were virtually flawless in frustrating the Rebels' efforts to venture across the Cats' blueline. Through two periods the Rebels spent just seven minutes in the Cougars' end of the rink.
Heading into Monday's game against Portland, it was without a doubt the Cougars' most dominant performance of the season on home ice, allowing them to creep within two points of the Tri-City Americans for the final playoff spot.
"This whole weekend I thought we played very well from our goalie on out and got some huge efforts from different guys each night and it turns into wins," said Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson.
"The veterans are doing their jobs and if you look at those three 16-year-olds [Morrison, Harkins and defenceman Tate Olson]. since they came back from the World Under-17s they've kind of taken off here and gone to another level."
