For all the right reasons, 16-year-old Taylor Gauthier is making a name for himself as a rookie netminder in the Western Hockey League.
He certainly made life difficult for the high-flying Moose Jaw Warriors.
It wasn’t good enough to deliver the Prince George Cougars a win, but the kid from Calgary was a standout show-stopper Saturday night in Moose Jaw. He made 44 saves in a 4-1 loss to a Warriors team that’s taking a serious run at the WHL championship.
A key cog on the league’s highest-scoring team, Justin Almeida did significant damage to the Cougars’ cause, collecting a goal and two assists against his former team. Drafted fifth overall in 2014, Almeida, who turns 19 today, was one of the principles in the January 2016 trade the Cougars made with Moose Jaw to get winger Nikita Popugaev.
Almeida drew the second assist on Brayden Burke’s goal 17:26 into the first period, which opened the scoring. The Kitimat native picked up the only goal of the second period, lifting a high shot from close range over Gauthier while on a power play – Almeida’s 30th of the season.
The Warriors went up 3-0 on a goal from Tyler Popple midway through the third period and Almeida earned his third point of the night a couple minutes later, leaving a drop pass that Brandon Schuldhaus shot into the net.
Almeida easily could have had a couple more points to add to his 72-point total if not for Gauthier. His quick lateral movement shooting from one post to the other robbed the Warriors on numerous occasions, including a highlight-reel stop on Burke, the leading scorer in the WHL, to start the third period.
Moose Jaw goalie Adam Evanoff was less than three minutes away from his first career WHL shutout when Josh Maser ended that thought. The Cougars’ leading goal-scorer collected his 23rd of the season while the Cougars were on a two-man power play.
The shots ended up 48-23 for the Warriors.
The win improved Moose Jaw’s first-overall record to 40-9-1-2, while the Cougars dropped to 19-27-4-4.
It marked the end of the Cats’ six-game East Division tour which began Jan. 26 with a loss in Prince Albert. They finished the trip with a 1-4-0-1 record, gaining points for their 3-2 win Friday in Brandon and a 4-3 shootout loss in Saskatoon, Jan. 27.
The Cougars are back in action at CN Centre Friday against the Kamloops Blazers on Lumberjack Night. The Cougars will be wearing their lumberjack jerseys that night.
