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Cougars hit the road for date with Rockets

The anvil that was an eight-game losing streak has been lifted off the backs of the Prince George Cougars and they’ve had a week to savour back-to-back wins over one of the Western Hockey League’s top teams.
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The anvil that was an eight-game losing streak has been lifted off the backs of the Prince George Cougars and they’ve had a week to savour back-to-back wins over one of the Western Hockey League’s top teams.

Backed by some out-of-this-world goaltending from Taylor Gauthier, their two one-goal victories left the Kamloops Blazers a frustrated bunch. Seeing their team finally get the desired results put the fun back into it for Cougar fans and lightened the mood considerably this week in practice for the players.

Now it’s time to get back to business for the Cats.

They boarded the bus today for Kelowna where they’ll face the Rockets on Saturday in their only game of the weekend.

Despite their lack of success during the losing streak, head coach and general manager Mark Lamb says his team did not let that sour their ambition to reverse the trend and try to put together a run of victories.

“One thing about this team, it is positive, when you walked in that dressing room and watched us practice you wouldn’t even sense that it was eight losses, and one of the reasons was all those games were so close,” said Lamb.

“The only games that weren’t close was when we lost both goaltenders (when Gauthier was hurt and Tyler Brennan was playing at the world under-17 championship) and we still played hard.”

The Cougars went through the first three weeks of November without tasting victory and it finally happened last Friday when they beat the Blazers 4-3, backed by a 42-save outing from Gauthier. The 18-year-old goalie was equally as efficient in Saturday’s rematch against Kamloops, stopping 48 of 51 shots in a 5-3 win. Gauthier has owned the Blazers this season. He made 43 saves and allowed just one goal in a 1-0 loss in Kamloops Oct. 15.

In the three games combined against the Blazers he gave up just seven goals on 132 shots for a .947 save percentage. In 19 games this season the third-year veteran has a 4-14-0 record with a 3.09 goals-against average and .909 save percentage.

The Cougars have had the rare luxury of a full week to practice between games and Lamb took that opportunity to return to his home in Saskatchewan to scout some of the Cougars’ prospects while associate coach Jason Smith, goalie coach Taylor Dakers and director of player development Steve O’Rourke ran the practices.

“When you get a week off like this you have to use it wisely, you’ve got to rest and work hard,” Lamb said. “You’ve got to keep your pace up and get in the gym and keep your health and diet. They just beat one of the best teams in the league twice and that’s going to take away some of the anxiety. It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to feel good about that.”

The Rockets (13-8-1-2, second in B.C. Division) are gearing up to host the Memorial Cup national championship in May. They had a four-game winning streak end Tuesday at home in a 1-0 shootout loss to Edmonton and have climbed into fourth place in the Western Conference.

Kelowna added a veteran presence down the middle in a trade earlier this week, acquiring 20-year-old centre Jadon Joseph from the Moose Jaw Warriors in a deal for 20-year-old forward Kobe Mohr, 18-year-old forward Kyle Crosbie, 19-year-old goalie James Porter and the Rockets’ third-rounder in the 2011 bantam draft. In 21 games with Warriors Joseph had seven goals and six assists.

The Rockets split the weekend against the Cougars when they came to Prince George in early October, winning the first game 2-1 and losing the rematch 4-1. They also beat the Cats 4-2 at CN Centre, Oct. 23 and 6-2 on Nov. 1 in Kelowna.

The Cougars are back on home ice at CN Centre Tuesday and Wednesday when they host the Portland Winterhawks. They play in Portland Dec. 7 and 8 and return to Prince George to host Victoria Dec. 13 and 14. The  Dec. 14 game is the Cougars’ Teddy and Toque Toss promotion…The Cats head into the Christmas break following a game against the Vancouver Giants, Dec. 7 in Langley.