Ty Rimmer grew up in Edmonton, where hockey's Taj Mahal is called Rexall Place -- the house that Wayne Gretzky helped build.
Rimmer will be making his pilgrimage to the building formerly known as Northlands Coliseum tonight, but this time he won't be sitting in the stands. He'll have a spot in the goalcrease.
The 18-year-old Prince George Cougars goalie earned the right to start tonight against the Edmonton Oil Kings after putting up stellar back-to-back performances in weekend wins on home ice against Kelowna. Rimmer allowed just two goals in a 4-2 win over the Rockets Friday and earned his third shutout of the season in a 3-0 win Saturday.
"I haven't played at Rexall yet and I'm pretty excited about that," said Rimmer. "There will be lots of friends and family there but it's my job to stay focused on the task at hand and come out with the win. Everybody knows what happened there the last time, but we're coming there hot and we're going to be ready."
The Cougars don't have to be reminded about how their game in Edmonton Oct. 11 turned out. They blew a 6-3 lead in the third period and lost 8-7 in the last second of overtime. Rimmer was still with the Brandon Wheat Kings at the time and James Priestner took the loss in the Cougar nets.
"We kind of went lackadaisical in the third period, from what I can remember, and we can't be doing that again," said Cats defenceman Sena Acolatse. "We've come a long way since then and we've learned from our mistakes, so I think it will be a better result this time."
The Cougars lost six of seven road games in January and now have the task of trying to win this week in Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary and Red Deer, with Thursday the only day off.
"We are looking forward to these games, we know we have to be better on the road in the second half," said Cougars winger Jaroslav Vlach. "But we will try to keep getting the same effort we had at home and hopefully we will keep winning on the road."
The weekend wins pulled the third-place Cougars (26-23-2-1) to within five points of the Rockets. Prince George still trails the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants by eight points, but the Cats have three games in hand.
"Certainly we helped ourselves, now we just have to go out and beat some of the other teams," said Cougars head coach Dean Clark. "We've only got four divisional games left, one against Chilliwack, one against Vancouver and two against Kamloops, and we know the other guys (in the B.C. Division) have to play each other. We have to do our job now, knowing we can jump ahead of some of these other teams.
"If we play the style of game we did [Saturday night], that's the perfect style of road game. I think our guys learned from that and I'm looking forward to the next game."
The Cougars are healthy and will welcome back forward Spencer Asuchak, who missed eight after being caught using an illegal over-the-counter stimulant.
