If you ever wondered what turns coaches' hair gray, all you had to do was sit back and watch what happened in the last eight minutes of Friday's game at CN Centre.
It was a nailbiter of epic proportions for Mark Holick, head coach of the Prince George Cougars, who was forced to watch his much-maligned penalty-killers pull one out of the bag in the dying minutes to preserve a 3-2 win over the Victoria Royals.
It wasn't easy on the fans either, all 2,750 of them, but the Cougars got the job done to knock off one of their WHL B.C. Division rivals and extend their winning streak to four games.
Down 3-1 with 12:11 gone in the third period, after Joe Hicketts had come within a goalpost of making it a one-goal game, Cougar winger Chance Braid was sent to the shower after taking a five-minute major for checking Jared Dmytriw from behind into the boards. On the ensuing power play, Austin Carroll made it a 3-2 game with his 12th of the season. The Cats killed the rest of the penalty off but rookie Kobe Eagletail, who had served Braid's major, rushed to the player's bench from the penalty box just as the Cougars cleared the zone and made the mistake of touching the puck just as Jared Bethune jumped onto the ice to take Eagletail's place.
The too many men penalty gave the Royals another two minutes to try for the equalizer. Travis Brown hit the post but that's as close as the Royals came to scoring.
The win moved the second-place Cougars (11-8-0-0) two points ahead of the Royals (9-9-2-0).
The Cougars' penalty killing had to be a source of comfort for the coaching staff, continuing a trend that showed signs of developing in the Kamloops series. Led by Brad Morrison, Bethune and Aaron Macklin, who pressured the Royals' pointmen relentlessly, and strong play in front of the net from defencemen Sam Ruopp and Martin Bobos, the Cougars successfully killed off three manpower advantages before they finally bent. Magee unleashed a hard snap shot for his fifth goal in eight games with 3:03 gone in the third period. That came with Cats forward Jansen Harkins serving a penalty for kneeing.
Harkins got back at the Royals right away, cashing in a Cougars power-play chance from short range on a pass from Morrison.
Jari Erricson opened the scoring with a ripper of a wrist shot from 30 feet that sailed high over the glove hand of goalie Jayden Sittler making his WHL debut in the Victoria nets. It was the team-leading 11th of the season for Erricson, who's been making up for lost time in his final season of junior after being limited to just four games last year as a result of a concussion.
Erricson was the instigator of the second goal a few minutes later, which put the Cougars ahead 2-0 . Sittler had trouble covering the rebound of Erricson's backhander from the slot and fellow 20-year-old Braid jammed it in while standing next to the post.
Centred by Morrison, Erricson's line picked up where it left off last weekend in the Cats' home-ice pair of wins over the Kamloops Blazers. That unit forced the play and created some nervous moments for the Royals while getting rewarded with an abundance of quality chances in the first 40 minutes.
The Royals forced Ty Edmonds into some tough saves in the early going and Brandon Magee came close on a high shot with 10 minutes gone but got turned aside by Edmonds' trapper. The 20-year-old Magee has been a Cougar-killer over the years with 12 goals and 36 points in 33 WHL games against Prince George.
The Cougars expected a physical affair in the first of eight games this season against one of the top contenders for the Western Conference title, having felt the sting of the Royals last year season when they seven of eight games to Victoria. The Royals are one of the biggest WHL teams and they weren't shy about throwing their weight around but the Cougars stood up to the test, answering the Royals hit-for-hit. The Cats and Royals are the most penalized teams in the WHL.
The rematch is set for tonight. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
LOOSE PUCKS: Victoria head coach Dave Lowry will serve as head coach of the WHL team at the Subway Super Series against Russia this week in Saskatoon and Brandon. Lowry has also been tapped as an assistant coach for Team Canada in the World Junior Championship which starts Dec. 26 in Toronto and Montreal... The Cats were missing D Marc McNulty, out with a lower-body injury suffered this week in practice, and D Josh Anderson (playing for Canada White at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Ontario) and called up the 17-year-old Eagletail from the Calgary Mustangs (AJHL) for his first WHL game.
