If that was a sneak preview of a first-round playoff matchup, bring it on.
The Prince George Cougars and Victoria Royals proved in their two-game shindig at CN Centre there’s not much separating the two teams on the ice or in the standings. From an entertainment aspect, hockey fans will be well-served if they meet again in less than three months for a postseason rematch.
On Saturday, rookie marvel Matthew Phillips continued to prove the Western Hockey League is not just a playground for big guys. The five-foot-six, 137-pound sparkplug followed up on linemate Alex Forsberg’s drive to the net and dumped the rebound underneath a sprawling Ty Edmonds for the only goal of the third period to lift the Royals to a 4-3 victory.
Victoriarecovered from Friday’s loss by taking the game to the Cougars. They used their speed to force turnovers, blocked shots, made crisper breakout passes, took advantage of their power-play chances and leaned on goalie Griffen Outhouse to bail them out when the Cougars’ offensive daggers were out.
Phillips’s goal came with Colby McAuley serving a cross-checking penalty for taking out Royals winger Jared Dmytriw, after he’d bowled over Edmonds in the Cougars’ crease. The Cougars are their supporters in the crowd of 2,964 did not like the fact Dmytriw wasn’t handed a penalty and the Royals used that to their advantage.
Shut out 1-0 the previous night, the Royals jumped ahead 2-0 in the first period on goals from Tyler Soy and Dante Hannoun, who scored with five seconds left in a penalty to Cougars forward Jared Bethune.
Bethune made up for that transgression by notching his 10th of the season late in the period, unleashing a wicked snap shot after faking a shot to elude Ryan Gagnon’s shot block attempt.
The Cougars tied it 2-2 early in the second on a power play. Jesse Gabrielle took a feed from pointman Tate Olson and lifted a high shot from the corner past a partially-screened Outhouse for his league-leading 27th goal of the season.
The Cougars’ line of Bethune, Brad Morrison and Jansen Harkins gave the Cats their first lead 16:09 into the second, with Harkins cashing in a Morrison feed with a sharp-angle shot. But the Royals had an answer for that just 42 seconds later, when Soy potted his second goal of the game, banging in a loose puck that ricocheted off the leg of Cougars defenceman Josh Anderson in front.
“That goal at the end of the second didn’t help,” said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. “We had the right line on the ice and I think they got caught puck-watching and puck-chasing, not the way that line usually plays.
“When you’re evenly-matched like we are, and I think we’ve proven that both teams are pretty tight, a funny break can go either way. We didn’t hit the net with enough consistency, we had second and third chances we put back in the pads instead of hunting upstairs. Some of our little details weren’t good and ended up costing us.”
The Royals (25-14-1-3) are now two points ahead of the Cougars (24-15-1-1). Prince George has played two fewer games than Victoria.
Edmondswasn’t tested as severely as he was in his 41-save gem on Friday but did could not be faulted for any of the four goals he gave up on Saturday.
“They came out hard and they didn’t quit and that’s why there are a good team,” said Edmonds. “We stumbled a bit but we made up some momentum, but we had some unlikely bounces and unfortunately it didn’t go our way.
“It’s fun to play them and I think it would be a good rivalry in the playoffs.”
The Royals went 2-for-3 on the power play. The Cougars were 1-for-2. One of the Cougar chances came with 1:42 left when Chaz Reddekopp drew an instigator penalty when he picked a fight Cougars captain Sam Ruopp after he’d flattened Dmytriw with a clean hit into the boards. The Cougars had some great chances with Edmonds on the bench but couldn’t beat Outhouse.
“We didn’t do a very good job of getting pucks deep,” said Ruopp. “That’s a thing we did good in the first game and that’s how we generated our success.”
Forsberg picked up three assists, leaving him one point shy of 200 points in his career. The 20-year-old, picked first overall in the 2010 WHL bantam draft by the Cougars, scored 30 goals and 87 points in 131 games over four seasons in Prince George. He had hoped to reach 200 against his old teammates.
“We’ve played them a lot lately and they’re a tough team to play against – it was a hard-fought battle both games and that’s what you expect when two teams are so close in the standings,” said Forsberg. “Every game except for lone each way has been close and it shows how similar we are. They like to play with speed and so do we and I think it would be a really hard-fought (playoff) series.”
Having faced the Royals in six of their past 10 games, a stretch of 23 days, the Cougars won’t play Victoria again until March 11 in Victoria, where they wrap up the season series with two games in three days. The teams each won three of those six games. Victoria picked up one extra point in the season series for their 3-2 overtime loss to the Cougars in Victoria Dec. 28. The Cougars have outscored Victoria 17-16 this season.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars host the Seattle Thunderbirds Tuesday and Wednesday at CN Centre… Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts assisted on both Victoria power-play goals Saturday and now has 58 power-play assists in his career. That broke the franchise record of 57 for defencemen formerly held by Brandon Manning when the team was based in Chilliwack. Manning, a Prince George minor hockey product, now plays for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Saturday WHL summary
Royals 4 at Cougars 3
First Period
1. Victoria, Soy 18 (Forsberg, Hicketts) 4:01 (pp)
2. Victoria, Hannoun 17 (Phillips, Forsberg) 16:40
2. Prince George, Bethune 13 (Morrison) 18:03
Penalties – Bethune PG (slashing) 4:01.
Second Period
4. Prince George, Gabrielle 27 (Olson, O’Brien) 4:43 (pp)
5. Prince George, Harkins 10 (Morrison, Bethune) 16:07
6. Victoria, Soy 19 (Walker, Reddekopp) 16:49
Penalties – Reddekopp (interference) 4:10, Olson PG (slashing) 12:48.
Third Period
7. Victoria, Phillips 22 (Forsberg, Hicketts) 7:20
Penalties – McAuley PG (cross-checking) 6:45. Reddekopp Vic (instigating, fighting, game misconduct), Ruopp PG (fighting) 18:18.
Shots on goal by
Victoria 7 14 14 --35
Prince George 7 11 14 --32
Goal – Victoria, Outhouse (W,7-3-1-1); Prince George, Edmonds (L,13-8-1-0).
Referees – Mike Campbell, Fraser Lawrence; Linesmen – Nick Albinati, Tom Henetiuk.
Attendance – 2,964.
Scratches – Vic: D Scott Walford (lower body, day-to-day), D Brayden Pachel (healthy), RW Ty Westgard (healthy), RW Tyler Thompson (healthy); PG: D Luka Zorko (healthy), D Shaun Dosanjh (healthy), RW Josh Curtis (healthy), C Justin Almeida (healthy), LW Bartek Bison (upper body, day-to-day), D Max Martin (shoulder surgery, five weeks), LW Jackson Leppard (healthy).
