Ty Rimmer came back to haunt his ex-Prince George Cougars teammates stopping all 15 shots he faced in the Tri City Americans' net and adding an assist on the winning goal.
The 19 year old entered Sunday's Western Hockey League game at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash., at 14:28 of the first period, after Eric Comrie gave up three goals on nine shots, and proceeded to blank his former club for the 5-3 win.
With the 5,091 fans expecting overtime in a 3-3 tie, Rimmer left the puck for WHL leading scorer Brendan Shinnimin at the side of the net, who went coast to coast beating his former Tri City teammate Drew Owsley with 48.7 seconds left in regulation over the glove. Shinnimin was credited with his 57th goal, 129th point, 18 seconds later when a errant pass slid out of Cougars' defenceman Reid Jackson's reach at the Americans' blueline and sailed all the way down into the empty net.
Shinnimin had four points in helping the Americans (49-17-1-2) retake first place in the WHL, two points ahead of the Portland Winterhawks (48-17-3-1) and tied in points with the Edmonton Oil Kings (47-15-3-4) - Tri City wins the tiebreaker with more wins.
The Americans have scored seven goals on their former teammate Owsley this season, with the two Winnipeggers', Shinnimin and 21-year-old captain Adam Hughsman, accounting for six. Hughsman opened the scoring and added his 45th and 46th goals in the second period to complete the hat trick.
The loss ended the Cats' two-game win streak and left the Cougars (22-45-0-2) alone in the basement of the Western Conference as the Seattle Thunderbirds (23-43-1-1) beat the seventh-place Everett Silvertips (21-38-2-8) 3-2 in overtime. The Victoria Royals (22-41-3-4) also picked up a point on the Cougars, losing 5-4 in overtime to the Vancouver Giants.
Prince George has 46 points with three games left, but are two points in arrears of the T-birds, five behind the Royals and six back of the Silvertips. The Cats are mathematically still alive, but they need to win Tuesday in Tri City and sweep a home and home with the Kamloops Blazers (46-18-2-3) and they need the Royals and T-birds to lose their final two and four games respectively.
Cats' blow lead
The Cougars led 3-1 after the first period, rebounding from an early 1-0 deficit to score three goals on Americans' rookie goaltender Comrie. Chase Witala tied the game for Prince George with his eighth goal before brothers Jesse and Alex Forsberg potted their fourth and 14th goals, respectively. Comrie was yanked in favour of Rimmer - the first action the Edmonton native has played against his former mates this season.
Cougars' rookies Witala and Alex Forsberg had two-point nights.
The game marked Owsley's first game back in the city he played three seasons in before being traded for Rimmer last summer. In three season with the Americans, the 20 year old played in 122 games, collecting 76 wins against 33 losses and four overtime or shootout losses. Owsley played 29 playoff games in Tri City, picking 18 wins versus 11 losses with four in overtime.
In 63 games with the Cougars, Owsley has a .905 save percentage with a 21-37-0-1 record and three shutouts.
P.G. sophomore blasts Rockets
Troy Bourke had a three-point night Saturday in Kelowna as the Cougars knocked off the Rockets (29-31-3-6) 3-1. The 17 year old assisted on defenceman Ricard Blidstrand's first period goal before scoring twice in the final period, his 16th of the season into the empty net after the Rockets' Myles Bell broke Owsley's shutout bid with four minutes to play. Owsley made 24 saves for the win. Caleb Belter and Spencer Asuchak each picked up two assists.
It was the Cats second consecutive win, a feat they hadn't accomplished since Jan. 13 and 14 when they beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-3 and 4-2 in Prince George.
Tri City won both games between the clubs at CN Centre in October as Comrie earned a pair of 1-0 shutouts.
The Cougars and Americans wrap up the four-game season series Tuesday at the Toyota Center at 7:05 p.m.
