In the United States on Tuesday night, Taylor Gauthier put up his own version of a wall.
The Prince George Cougars goaltender faced 36 shots from the Tri-City Americans but stopped all of them in a 1-0 Prince George victory. Ethan Browne scored the only goal of the Western Hockey League contest, at the 16:05 mark of the second period.
Gauthier was named the game's first star, in Kennewick, Wash., around the same time U.S. President Donald Trump was in Washington, D.C., pleading on live television for U.S. Democrats to give him the money he wants in order to build a wall along the country's southern border with Mexico.
Gauthier had the more satisfying result.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 14-21-1-2. Tri-City, meanwhile, dropped to 20-15-1-1.
The Cats play the final game of a lengthy road trip tonight in Spokane against the Chiefs. They will be home on Friday night - for the first time since Dec. 2 - to play the Kelowna Rockets in the first game of a doubleheader.
Thursday is trade deadline day in the WHL and in the B.C. Hockey League.
• Also Tuesday, the Cougars signed forward Blake Eastman to a standard WHL player agreement. The Cats chose Eastman in the second round (44th overall) in the 2018 bantam draft.
"Blake has really developed this season," said director of scouting Bob Simmonds in a media release. "He is playing with confidence and he has a strong power game - he plays with an edge. He has a knack for scoring and we expect him to continue to grow as a player and be a big part of our future."
Eastman is currently playing at OHA Edmonton, at the Elite 15 level, in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
