If Tyler Brennan had any fear in his eyes before his first Western Hockey League start it certainly didn’t show.
The 16-year-old from Winnipeg made 26 saves on Saturday backstopping the Prince George Cougars to their first win of the season, dumping the Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets by 4-1 score in front of a sparse crowd of 2,048 fans at CN Centre.
It was a night of firsts last night as we skated to a huge 4-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockets! Catch the @abccomm Highlights now: https://t.co/fVcFOh6wZO pic.twitter.com/o51rYCgDBW
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) October 6, 2019
After the game, Brennan described the rush of emotion he and his teammates felt when the final buzzer sounded.
“What a feeling. I can’t even describe it, I didn’t imagine that was ever going to happen. The butterflies went away as soon as I stepped out onto the ice and then after the first shot I was settled in.”
“When I walked into the dressing room all the lights were out and then I got ambushed by all of the players and you can’t recreate that. “
This was Brennan’s first career victory between the pipes in the WHL .
He was also named the game’s first star.
The young nucleus of the Cougars didn’t stop there.
Fellow rookie Ethan Samson picked up his first career WHL goal at 9:37 of the second period, ripping a point shot on the power-play past Kelowna goaltender Roman Basran.
Much like Brennan, the rush of lighting the lamp was nothing short of special.
“It’s exactly how every player wants it. Scoring the game winner is something that you dream about as a kid growing up, playing in this league as a 16-year-old is hard and I am glad to get it done.”
“Koffer had a great look on the back-door set up and it all worked out. We’ve been working hard but have had some unlucky bounces and it was good to get our first win.”
The kids are alright. pic.twitter.com/QWYvhoov6N
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) October 6, 2019
Prince George opened the scoring on the man advantage halfway through the opening period when Jack Sander took a Filip Koffer feed and rifled it past Basran for the first of two Cougar power-play goals.
Kelowna’s big push came in the second period where Nolan Foote beat Brennan on a 5-on-4 situation cutting the deficit to 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Despite some tense moments, including a late penalty kill, Josh Maser took the bull by the horns and potted his second of the season at an empty net to ice the victory for the 1-4-0-1 Cats.
Not to be outdone, Koffer scored on an empty cage with 40 seconds remaining securing his first WHL goal.
The 18-year-old from the Czech Republic was named the game’s second star following his three-point performance but was quick to credit the work of his teammates.
“We played like a team and that was important. We were missing four guys from the lineup and I’m glad.”
“It’s not about me, it’s about my teammates and we played hard. I’m glad to have the three points but we achieved that as a team.”
The Cougars outshot Kelowna 32-27 and went 2-for-3 on the power-play.
The Rockets drop to 4-2-0-1 but remain at the top of the BC Division, one point ahead of the Vancouver Giants.
“I think you have to credit to PG as they were a desperate team and it looked like they wanted this one. We had a lot of chances but Brennan stood on his head in his first game in the league but hopefully we can get him back next time,” said Mark Liwiski, Rockets Forward.
“We fell off the loop a little bit and figured out that work ethic does beat skill and we have to come ready for them next time as well as our next game on Wednesday against Swift Current.”
Kelowna comes back to Prince George on October 23rd.
The Cougars hit the road next weekend for a pair of games Friday and Saturday against the Spokane Chiefs and the Tri-City Americans.
FINAL: @Kelowna_Rockets (1) at @PGCougars (4)
STATS ? | https://t.co/f4H9wXNmaB#PGvsKEL pic.twitter.com/GRwJ67mwOr
— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 6, 2019