There's something about the Prince George Cougars that just brings out the best in Brandon Magee.
After striking for a goal and an assist Friday night in a 3-2 loss to the Cougars, Magee duplicated the feat in the rematch Saturday at CN Centre to lead the Victoria Royals to a 6-2 triumph.
Magee converted a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway 13:31 into the game to stimulate the Royals' offence and the 20-year-old centre also assisted on Jack Walker's goal with five seconds left in the second period.
Since his return to action after being suspended for the first 12 games of the season for a playoff head shot on Portland's Nic Petan, Magee has set a blistering pace for six goals and 10 assists for 16 points in just nine games. His four-point weekend left him with 38 points in 32 career games against the Cougars. With his parents and sister from Edmonton in the stands for both games, Magee continued to make up for lost time.
"A lot of credit has to go to my linemates [Axel Blomqvist and Brandon Fushimi], they're getting in around the net and I was just putting pucks there and I've just been going to the net and banging pucks home," said Magee. "It was frustrating having to watch those first 12 games but actions have consequences and I was able to come back pretty strong. I like to get amped up for those intra-conference games. I've been playing P.G for a lot of years now it's nice to have success against a team like that."
Last season the Royals owned the Cougars, winning seven of eight games, but Magee knows now the Cougars have toughened up their lineup and are no longer the division pushovers.
"They're playing strong defensive hockey this year with a lot of big guys back there," Magee said. "They're playing very physical and it's making it a lot tougher for us to play against them."
The Royals scored late in the first period to take their first lead of the weekend and at that point seemed to take control the game. Inspired by Taylor Crunk's back-door conversion with 41 seconds left in the first period, the Royals scored three times in the second period, including another shorthanded goal. Regan Nagy' shorty made it a 4-2 game with 13:16 gone in the middle frame. He crossed over the blueline and with Cats' defencemen Tate Olson and Carvalho surrounding him, was allowed to take the puck in deep and beat Ty Edmonds with an angled shot.
"The late goal was a backbreaker that definitely sunk our sails a bit and we obviously didn't move on too well from that," said Cougars defenceman Joseph Carvalho.
"Those guys are one of the most physical teams and they're hard to play against down low and in the corners. We were getting too involved with things after the whistle, just retaliating. A couple times we had a power play and got it taken away because we took a stupid penalty. Power plays can change the momentum of the game."
Jared Rathjen came into the game after Nagy's goal for his first action in goal this season, having joined his hometown Cougars last week on waivers from Medicine Hat. The 20-year-old was under siege right away when the Cougars took a penalty and almost got to the second intermission unscathed. But Magee spotted Walker in the slot and fed him a slick backhand pass from the end boards that slid past the post right onto Walker's stick and he popped it in with five seconds left in the period.
"Brandon is a guy who plays hard every night, he's a skill player and when he's skating and the puck's following him he's a dynamic player," said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
"I know he's put some big numbers up against Prince George. We told him it's our responsibility to make sure he was ready to go when he did come back [from the suspension] and make sure we get him on pace to have a good year."
Austin Carroll and Ralph Jarratt, with the first of his WHL career on a shot from centre that skipped through the legs of Rathjen, also scored for Victoria. David Soltes and Olson were the Cougars goalscorers. Coleman Vollrath made 23 saves in the Victoria nets as the Royals outshot the Cats 34-25.
"It's always tough going into a game over halfway through when you're cold and things aren't going that well for your team - I got in there and made a couple big saves and I made two mistakes," said Rathjen, who started his WHL career with the Royals. "It was nice to get in the game but at the same I've got to be better. We played decent in the first period but we let off the gas from there and let them play their way. We didn't play the way we need to, to be successful."
The Cougars learned Saturday they wouldn't have the services of top-line left winger Chance Braid, suspended indefinitely for his hit from behind in Friday's game that left Royals winger Jared Dmitriw with a concussion. Braid had a goal and an assist in Friday's game and was physical force until he was forced out of the game. The Cougars were already without winger Chase Witala, their second-leading scorer, who served the second of a two-game suspension for cross-checking Kamloops defenceman Patrik Maier a week ago and defenceman Marc McNulty, out with a lower-body injury suffered last week in practice.
The win left the Royals (10-9-2-0) tied with the Cougars (11-9-0-0) for second place in the B.C. Division. The Cats host the top-ranked Kelowna Rockets Friday and Saturday.
LOOSE PUCKS: Lowry will serve as head coach of the WHL team and Royals D Joe Hicketts, who had two assists Saturday, will play in the Subway Super Series against Russia tonight in Saskatoon and Tuesday in 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 Cougars called up the 17-year-old D Kobe Eagletail from the Calgary Mustangs (AJHL) for his first WHL games to replace D Josh Anderson, playing for Canada White at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Ontario.
