The Prince George Cougars must have forgotten home games start at 7 p.m.
They were there in body for the opening face-off Saturday but their minds to complete the task at hand -- a rematch with the Victoria Royals -- somehow got lost between the dressing room and the ice at CN Centre.
By the time their actions got back in sync with their thoughts, the Cougars had dug themselves a hole too deep. Facing a four-goal deficit with only eight minutes left, they strung together three unanswered goals to make for a suspenseful finish, but couldn't complete the comeback, losing 6-5 in front of 2,096 spectators.
Jamie Crooks fired a hat trick to carry the Royals (3-1-0-0) to their third win in four games to move into first place in the B.C. Division, three points ahead of the Cougars (1-1-0-1).
"That was pretty embarrassing to play like that, to be honest," said Cougars forward Greg Fraser. "We kind of sat back in the first period and thought it was going to be a bit of an easier game. We kind of got our feet under us in the second period and in the third period got back to what we were doing [Friday], which worked. If we play 60 minutes like we did in the last period we're going to win a lot of games this season."
Play like they did in the first period Saturday, and they're probably going to lose a lot, too. The Cougars were a disorganized mess in the opening 20 minutes, fumbling passes and getting caught out of position, and they didn't get a lot of help from their goaltender, not that they gave Drew Owsley much support. The Royals looked like superstars, by comparison, moving the puck with tape-to-tape precision and generating numerous quality chances.
The first of those, a power-play zinger from Kade Pilton just 47 seconds into the game, found its way through three bodies in front. Then Crooks took advantage of some sloppy defensive coverage and got Owsley moving in the crease, beating him with a wide deke for his first of the night. Hayden Rintoul's short-range wrist shot made 3-0, ending Owsley's night.
Devon Fordyce took over in the Cougars crease but didn't get out of the first period unscathed, leaving Crooks with plenty upstairs to shoot at to make it 4-0. Crooks made it a five-goal deficit with his hat-trick goal early in the second period.
The Cougars finally broke the goose egg, while shorthanded, 6:31 into the second. Spencer Asuchak burst in on the left wing and left the puck sitting for Troy Bourke, whose spinaround backhander found the mark behind Braden Gamble. Charles Inglis's slap shot drew the Cats to within 5-2. But Kevin Sundher punctured that comeback balloon with his second of the season, scoring on a rebound while the teams skating 4-on-4.
After Tyler Stahl had to be helped off the ice after he was hit by an illegal elbow from Inglis (see other story), the Cougars started to make things happen in the offensive end and within the space of 3:49, Fraser, Nick Buonassisi, and Jake Mykitiuk all scored to cut the Victoria lead to one.
"After the hit, we were kind of on our heels a bit and we didn't get a timely save and they clawed their way back, but I liked our game [Saturday]," said Royals head coach Marc Habscheid.
The Cats pulled Fordyce for the extra skater and continued to buzz the Victoria net and came close to tying it when Jordan Tkatch let go a rocket from the slot, but Gamble managed to smother it.
Victoria beat the Cats 5-4 in a shootout on Friday despite being outshot 51-25.
"We had a fairly good effort the first night and probably deserved a better fate, but [on Saturday] we didn't come prepared," said Cougars head coach Dean Clark. "It was a very disappointing effort in the first period, something we will correct to make sure it doesn't happen again."
