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Great balls of fire; Cougars go down in flames against Kamloops

A season we won’t soon forget ended with a thud for the Prince George Cougars.

On Wednesday, the Kamloops Blazers left no stone unturned in their BC Division finale skating to a 4-0 shutout victory at Sandman Centre.

Josh Pillar only needed four minutes to open the scoring, collecting a Montana Onyebuchi pass and beating Cats netminder Taylor Gauthier for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

In the second, rookie blueliner Logan Bairos saved the best for last notching his first WHL goal, handcuffing Gauthier at the 9:54 mark to double the Blazer edge.

Kamloops emptied the gas tanks during the final period outshooting the Cougars 16-8.

Ethan Brandwood and Orrin Centazzo lit the lamp just over a minute apart to deliver the knockout blow.

It was a fairly clean game on the scoresheet with both teams going a combined 0-for-3 on the power-play.

The Blazers outshot PG 38-28 overall, giving New York Rangers prospect Dylan Garand the goose egg.

Gauthier made 34 saves in defeat for the 9-10-2-1 Cougars.

The 19-year-old recorded a career-best 2.74 goals against average to go along with a .915 save percentage.

Kamloops took five out of six meetings against the Cats outsourcing them 25-11.

The Blazers secured the RE/MAX BC Division Hub.

This was the final WHL game for Cougars over ager Jack Sander who suited up 203 times in his major junior career, that spanned four seasons.

Craig Armstrong ended the shortened season as PG’s leading scorer with 13 points.

Eight Cougars players finished with 10 points or more.

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Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].

Brendan Pawliw
Brendan Pawliw
Since moving to Prince George in 2015, Brendan has covered local sports including the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, Prince George Spruce Kings, UNBC Timberwolves, Cariboo Cougars AAA, and Northern Capitals U18 female hockey teams. Career highlights include play-by-play during the Spruce Kings' BCHL championship runs in 2018 and 2019, including the Doyle Cup win. He also covered the 2019 National Junior A Championship, the 2017 Telus Cup, the 2022 World Women’s Curling Championship, and the 2022 BC Summer Games. Brendan is the news voice on 94.3 The Goat and Country 97 FM, reporting on crime, real estate, labour, and environmental issues. Outside of work, he officiates box lacrosse and fastball, sits on the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame board, and co-hosts the Hockey North podcast.

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