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WHL Prince George Cougars

Cougars Sweep Rockets In Dramatic Comeback

March 1, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Prince George Cougars News Release


Prince George Cougars celebrate
Prince George Cougars celebrate
(Prince George Cougars)

PRINCE GEORGE, BC - Improbable. Incredible. Exhilarating. There's many ways to describe Wednesday's 7-6 come from behind win by the Prince George Cougars over the Kelowna Rockets.

The Cougars erased two three-goal deficits, as they won back-to-back games for the first time since December 5th; their first sweep of the Rockets since October 1st, 2016.

Ilijah Colina scored his second of the game, with just 18-seconds left in regulation, to break a 6-6 tie and clinch the Cougars a midweek sweep over the top team in the BC Division. Brogan O'Brien also scored a pair of goals and Jared Bethune, Aaron Boyd and Austin Crossley added singles. Jackson Leppard finished with three assists, and seven Cougars finished with multi-point games.

Taylor Gauthier picked up his second win in as many nights, kicking-out 31 shots. James Porter was tagged with the loss in the Kelowna crease, yielding seven goals on 40 shots.

Kole Lind scored a natural hat-trick, in the first period, and had four points in a losing effort for the Rockets; Dillon Dube chipped in with three assists.

The Rockets went ahead 3-0 in the first period on three-straight goals from Kole Lind. The Vancouver Canucks' draft pick broke the scoreless tie 5:40 into the game, beating Taylor Gauthier from the left-wing during a four-on-four sequence. He then made it 2-0 a minute and a half later, scoring through a screen at 7:10. Lind capped off the hat-trick with just over four-minutes left in the first. On a Rockets' power-play, Lind moved into the slot and wired a shot past Gauthier on the stick side.

Prince George got a much-needed boost just 77-seconds later, as Colina scored his first of two on the night. Ethan Browne made a terrific cross-ice pass to Colina, who charged the crease to tap-in his ninth at 17:16.

The Rockets restored their three-goal lead in the second, as Conner Bruggen-Cate made it 4-1 at 6:37. Bruggen-Cate found room upstairs between the post and Gauthier from the right-wing circle.

The Cougars started to chisel away at the deficit midway through the second, Boyd and O'Brien scored less than three-minutes apart. First, Boyd made it 4-2 when he scored off the rush and from the right-wing at 11:47; his 11th of the season. O'Brien then made it 4-3 at 14:45, scoring on a one-timer right in front. Jackson Leppard spotted O'Brien from the goal-line and he made no mistake, burring his 12th goal.

Prince George completed the comeback six-minutes into the third period, as Jared Bethune scored on a rebound at 6:05. Cole Moberg's point-shot hit something in front of the net and bounced over to Bethune, who put the rebound in past Porter for his 21st.

Then, it started to get crazy. The two teams combined for five goals in an eight-minutes stretch.

Kelowna retook the lead nearly 12-minutes into the third period, as Erik Gardiner capitalized on a turnover just inside the Cougars' blue-line. Gardiner took the puck away from two Cougars, before beating Gauthier on the stick side at 11:40 to make it 5-4. However, the Rockets had barely a moment to celebrate before the game was tied again.

16-seconds after Gardiner's goal, it was Austin Crossley scoring, again. Prince George quickly worked their way back into the Rockets zone, and the puck came back to Crossley, who got his shot through traffic and past a screened Porter at 11:56; Crossley scoring in back-to-back games.

The Cougars then grabbed their first lead of the night, with just three and half minutes left. Jackson Leppard came down the right-wing and fired a wrist-shot that glanced off of O'Brien's back, who was cutting to the net, and futtered over Porter on the blocker side at 15:45; O'Brien getting his second of the game to make it 6-5.

Kelowna didn't go away quietly, as their Captain Cal Foote tied it 49-seconds later. Foote took a drop pass from Dube and got a favourable bounce of his own, as his shot glanced off of Gauthier and trickled across the goal-line.

Then, just over a minute after that tying goal by the Rockets, it was the Cougars getting a big opportunity. Kole Lind got his stick up on Jackson Leppard and was called for a four-minute high sticking penalty.

On the ensuing four-minute man-advantage, the Cougars got their break, albeit in the dying moments of regulation. With just seconds left in the third period and the game tied 6-6, the Cougars worked the puck around, before Josh Curtis fired a cross-ice pass to Colina for the tap-in and game-winner with 18-seconds left on the clock.

Carsen Twarynski put a last-second scare into the Cougars' fans, as the Rockets forward fired a shot off the post just before the clock ran out.

FINAL SCORE: 7-6 Cougars

Shots: 40-37 Cougars

Power-Plays: Cougars 1-5 Rockets 1-3

Three Stars: 1) Kole Lind 2) Jackson Leppard 3) Jared Bethune

The Cougars handed the Rockets just their third loss when leading after two periods; they were 28-1-0-1. With his two points Wednesday, Jared Bethune now has 11 points (3-8-11) in six games against Kelowna. The seven goals match a season high for Prince George, as they scored seven goals twice previously.

Prince George (22-33-4-4) looks for a third-straight win Friday, when they host the Victoria Royals (35-24-3-2) at the CN Centre; face-off is 7 pm. Tickets are available at the TicketsNorth box office, or online at www.ticketsnorth.ca.

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Prince George Cougars celebrate
Prince George Cougars celebrate
   



Western Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2018


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