The Prince George Cougars must have forgot home games start at 7 p.m.
They were there in body for the opening face-off Saturday but their minds to complete the task at hand -- a rematch with the Victoria Royals -- somehow got lost between the dressing room and the ice at CN Centre.
By the time their actions got back in sync with their thoughts, the Cougars had dug themselves a hole too deep. Facing a four-goal deficit with only eight minutes left, they strung together three unanswered goals to make for a suspenseful finish, but couldn't complete the comeback, falling 6-5 to the Royals in front of 2,096 spectators.
Jamie Crooks fired a hat trick to carry the Royals (3-1-0-0) to their third win in four games to move into first place in the B.C. Division, three points ahead of the Cougars (1-1-0-1).
"That was pretty embarrassing to play like that, to be honest," said Cougars forward Greg Fraser. "We kind of sat back in the first period and thought it was going to bit of an easier game. We kind of got our feet under us in the second period and in the third period got back to what we were doing [Saturday], which worked. If we play 60 minutes like we did in the last period we're going to win a lot of games this season."
Play like they did in the first period Saturday, and they're probably going to lose a lot of the 69 games they have left this season. The Cougars were a disorganized mess in the opening 20 minutes, fumbling passes and getting caught out of position. To make matters worse, they didn't get a lot of help from their goaltender, not that they gave Drew Owsley much support. Conversely, the Royals looked like superstars, moving the puck with tape-to-tape precision and generating numerous quality scoring chances.
Shots were 30-29 in favour of the Cougars.
Kade Pilton, Hayden Rintoul and Kevin Sundher also scored for Victoria. Fraser, Charles Inglis, Troy Bourke, Nick Buonassisi and Jake Myktiuk where the Cougar goalscorers.
Inglis was given a match penalty for an elbow in the face of Royals defenceman Tyler Stahl, 3:46 into the third period, and faces a lengthy suspension in the wake of the WHL's crackdown this season on head hits.
The Cougars hit the road Sunday to begin a two-week, seven-game tour of the WHL's East Division, which starts Tuesday in Prince Albert.
For more Cougars coverage see Monday's Citizen.
