Brad Morrison had the game on his stick and did not waste his chance to bury the Kamloops Blazers.
The 18-year-old Prince George Cougars forward fooled Connor Ingram with a backhand deke through the legs for the only goal of the shootout in a 4-3 victory Wednesday night in Kamloops.
The win allowed the Cougars (24-14-1-1) to keep pace with the Victoria Royals, 6-2 winners over the Tri-City Americans Wednesday in Victoria.
The Blazers had the best chances to end it in overtime but were foiled by Cougars goalie Ty Edmonds, who made four tough saves to force the shootout. Jake Kryski drew a hook from Cats defenceman Tate Olson with a speed burst up the middle with 44 seconds left, but the Blazers were unable to capitalize.
The Cougars took the lead late in the second period with goals from Chase Witala and Kody McDonald 11 seconds apart. Witala, the WHL's player of the month for December, broke in alone on the left wing and picked the corner high over the right shoulder of Ingram. Ingram, voted the league's goalie of the month in December, gave up a weak one to McDonald, whose shot trickled in off the goalie's trapper. The two-goal outburst came four minutes after the Cougars had killed off a two-man disadvantage when they got caught with too many skaters on the ice, 58 seconds after McDonald was sent off for boarding.
Blazers sniper Colin Shirley knotted the score 3-3 with a power-play goal 4:32 into the third period, taking a pass in the slot from Deven Sideroff for his second goal and third point of the night. Shirley has been a Cougar-killer this season with 12 points in six games.
The Blazers made it a 2-1 count 10:49 into the second period when Sideroff picked up a rebound just outside the crease after Edmonds made the save off Shirley, who broke through the middle.
Shirley opened the scoring just 1:33 into the game, cashing in an odd-man rush with a low shot which eluded Edmonds. The Cougars tied it 15:40 into the first period. Jansen Harkins picked up his ninth of the season, redirecting a low shot from the high slot from linemate Morrison, who brought the puck out of the corner to find an open shooting lane. Edmonds kept the game tied with a breakaway save on Nick Chyzowski late in the opening period.
Shots were 41-25 in favour of the Cougars. Each team managed five shots in overtime.
The Blazers went 1-for-6 on the power play while the Cats were 0-for-3.
The Cougars boarded the bus right after the game and will now prepare for a two-game series Friday and Saturday against the Royals in what will be a battle for second place in the B.C. Division. Victoria (24-14-1-3) is one point ahead of Prince George, having played two more games than the Cats.
The win over the Blazers (18-14-4-2) was the second-straight against Kamloops, after suffering four losses to start the season series.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars were without F Colby McAuley, who served the second of a three-game suspension for his hit on Vancouver Giants F Trevor Cox in Saturday's game at CN Centre. In McAuley's place the Cats called up F Jackson Leppard, their first-round, eighth-overall pick in the 2015 WHL bantam draft. The 15-year-old Leppard has eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 19 games this season for the Vancouver Northwest Giants of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League.
BOX SCORE:
Cougars 4, Blazers 3 (SO)
First Period
1. Kamloops, Shirley 25 (unassisted) 1:33.
2. Prince George, Harkins 9 (Morrison, Bethune) 15:40.
Penalties - McDonald PG (fighting) 3:47, Vala Kam (fighting) 3:47, McDonald Kam (tripping) 10:19, Ruopp PG (tripping) 12:28.
Second Period
3. Kamloops, Sideroff 11 (Shirley, Kneen) 10:49.
4. Prince George, Witala 25 (Carvalho, Edmonds) 17:57.
5. Prince George, McDonald 8 (Boyd) 18:08.
Penalties - Morrison PG (tripping) 3:15, McDonald PG (boarding) 11:22, PG Bench (served by Almeida, too many men) 12:09, Miller Kam (hooking) 14:42.
Third Period
6. Kamloops, Shirley 26 (Sideroff, Needham) 4:32 (pp).
Penalties - Kneen Kam (checking from behind) 2:00, Gabrielle PG (holding) 2:40.
Overtime
No Scoring.
Penalties - Olson PG (hooking) 4:16.
Prince George : Witala miss, Gabrielle miss, Harkins miss, Morrison goal.
Kamloops : Shirley miss, Sideroff miss, Kryski miss, Pilon miss.
Shots on goal by
Prince George9141254-40
Kamloops95654-25
Goal - Prince George: Edmonds (W, 12-7-1); Kamloops: Ingram (LS, 16-9-4).
Power plays (goal-chances) - Prince George: 0-3; Kamloops: 1-5.
Referees - Kyle Kowalski, Nick Swaine.
Linesmen - Riley Balson, Ryan Dawson.
Attendance - 3,249 at Kamloops.
