For the second time this year, the character of the Prince George Cougars was tested.
Once again, they passed with flying colours.
Coming off a dismal defeat at the hands of the Kamloops Blazers (a 5-0 loss on Wednesday), the Cats righted the ship and pounced to a 5-2 victory over the Victoria Royals on Friday in Kelowna.
“I liked everything about the effort. We had a couple guys jump back into the lineup, MacAdams played very well, he hasn’t played in a while and all four lines had spots in the game where they were really good. It’s a complete team effort and whether we score first or not it’s a good win,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars Head Coach and GM.
After Anaheim Ducks prospect Brayden Tracey put Victoria ahead 1-0 at the end of the first period, the Cougars got some timely goals from the blueline.
Majid Kadduora and Keaton Dowhaniuk scored for the first time this season, solving Royals goaltender Connor Martin to take a 2-1 edge.
“It’s really good for our team. If we can get scoring up and down our lineup that is a big benefit for us and I think those guys have had lots of chances. Kaddoura has more shots than anyone on our team, one was bound to go in. Dowhaniuk has had lots of chances, he hit a cross bar this game and could have had two,” said Jonny Hooker, Cougars forward.
? FIRST WHL GOAL ALERT ?
cc: @KeatonDowhaniu2@PGCougars | #REMAXHub pic.twitter.com/GqX7O0UNyp
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 17, 2021
The night of firsts continued. This time, Trentyn Crane would even the score for Victoria sliding a puck past the wickets of Taylor Gauthier.
Before the intermission, the hot stick of Hooker proved key once again as he lit the lamp for the fourth time this season, putting PG back in the driver’s seat.
The @PGCougars start the third period with the lead.
?| https://t.co/HQbpG8IxlD#REMAXHub pic.twitter.com/xcFL5novOn
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 17, 2021
The Cougars bottled up the Royals for much of the third period only allowing six shots.
Former Regina Pat Canadian Kyren Gronick was sprung on a breakaway by Craig Armstrong and salted away the victory with an empty net goal.
“A lot of what we did resulted in what we did with the puck. In the game against Kamloops, we turned the puck over so many times it made us defend and we didn’t defend very well but we talked about it and the guys did a great job today,” added Lamb.
Tyson Upper found the back of the net, capitalizing on a Fischer O’Brien feed padding the advantage to three goals.
PG outshot Victoria 41-21 in the contest while also going 0-for-4 on the power-play.
Rookie forward Carter MacAdams recorded a plus two rating in his return to the Cougar lineup after sitting out the previous six games.
Next up for PG (4-3-1-1) is a date with the Kelowna Rockets (1-1) at 7pm from the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
It’s the Rockets first game since March 28th, a 6-0 loss at the hands of the Vancouver Giants.
Team activities were suspended shortly after, following a series of positive tests between Rockets players and team personnel.
You can listen to the game with Fraser Rodgers on 94.3 The Goat.