Ty Edmonds did everything in his power to pave a path to victory Wednesday night in Calgary.
He made saves he had no business making against the Calgary Hitmen and gave the Prince George Cougars a chance to break the Hitmen and their habit of winning.
Backed by a career-high 49-save first-star outing from the 18-year-old Edmonds, the Cougars came from behind to tie the game twice in the third period and force overtime but lost 4-3 to the Hitmen in a shootout.
Connor Rankin scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of the shootout. The Cougars' first shooter, Brad Morrison, scored on Brendan Burke to give the Cougars the shootout lead but Adam Tambellini evened the count in Round 2. Burke denied Zach Pochiro, Chase Witala and former Hitmen forward Cal Babych to end the game.
Burke's kick save to stop a shot from Witala with a second left in overtime was all that prevented the Cougars from collecting their second win of the season in Calgary. They beat the Hitmen 3-2 on Oct. 26.
Named the game's first star, it marked the fourth straight game Edmonds has delivered stellar goaltending for the Cougars. They've now earned points in three of their last four games.
"You look at the scoreboard with 49 saves, he was unbelievable," said Cougars assistant coach Roman Vopat. "Eddy has been tremendous the last three or four games and he was reason we were in the overtime. Unfortunately we couldn't score the extra goal to win it in the shootout."
Kenton Helgesen, Taylor Sanheim and Jake Virtanen scored for the Hitmen. Pochiro and defenceman Tate Olson, on a power play early in the third period, responded for the Cougars. Morrison's goal 12 minutes into the third, his 20th of the season, came just 47 seconds after Virtanen had given Calgary a 3-2 lead.
"We got young team and we're proud that they didn't quit," said Vopat. "We got outshot (53-22) but we played hard for 60 minutes.
"Morrison got the puck on the wall and went through three of their players and beat one of the biggest defencemen in the league (Keenan Kanzig) to tuck it in. When Brad uses his speed and uses all the skills he's one of the most dangerous players in the Western Hockey League."
"They have a big team and they like to throw the body around but I thought we responded well. We took a couple unnecessary penalties at the beginning of the game but stuck to the plan and stayed disciplined and played to the end."
The win was the ninth straight for the Hitmen (32-12-1-4). The Cougars (21-32-2-2) remained fifth in the Western Hockey League's B.C. Division. They will try to improve on their record Friday night in Medicine Hat against the Tigers, the top team in the Central Division.
The Cougars got no help from the Edmonton Oil Kings, who lost 3-1 to the Vancouver Giants in Vancouver. The win moved the Giants into third place, one point ahead of Kamloops and three ahead of Prince George.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars have now earned points in three of their last four games, including a win and an overtime loss at home against Edmonton.... D Josh Connolly (concussion) and LW Aaron Macklin (concussion) did not play for the Cougars Wednesday. Macklin skated with the team and it's expected he will participate in a full-contact practice today and could be ready for Friday's game. Connolly, who ranks third in team scoring with nine goals and 43 points in 50 games, won't play until Monday's game in Edmonton at the earliest.
