The Prince George Cougars piled on the shots, but had trouble finding the back of the net in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
Jesse Sanche got the start in net for the Blazers, turning away 47 Cougar shots, as well as all three Cougars shootout attempts, much to the delight of the 4,401 fans at the Sandman Centre.
“Give their goalie credit, we had a lot of chances when we did have it in front of the net, we tried and he battled and scrambled,” said Cougars Assistant Coach Carter Rigby on last night’s post-game show on 94.3 the Goat.
“A lot of those shots too were perimeter shots with no traffic in front, the first half for sure we wanted to kind of be soft and perimeter players and we didn’t really want to go to the net tonight and it showed. When you run into a goalie like that that’s seeing everything from the point, it’s the Western Hockey League for a reason, they’re going to make those saves.”
The Cougars out-shot the Blazers 48-30.
Ashton Ferster opened the scoring for Kamloops late into the second period.
Fersty stays hot! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/AOKwPoKwuW
— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) February 18, 2024
Ondrej Becher tied the game a little past the midway point of the third.
Ondrej Becher’s 20th of the season could not have come at a better time 🤩🤩🤩 https://t.co/c3TGjzvoj7 pic.twitter.com/lkTD399z13
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 18, 2024
In the dying seconds of regulation, Ty Young slammed the door on the Blazers to force overtime.
TY YOUNG TAKES US TO THE SHOOTOUT@Canucks pic.twitter.com/4lt75FxG1E
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 18, 2024
In the shootout, Jordan Keller was the only one to find the back of the net, securing the Blazers victory.
The full box score can be found here.
With the single point, the Cougars were one of three teams to clinch a playoff spot in the WHL’s Western Conference.
The Cougars (36-15-0-3) sit atop the BC Division, and second in the WHL’s Western Conference standings, two points behind the Portland Winterhawks (37-13-2-1).
Portland and Everett (36-18-2-2) clinched as well.
The full WHL standings can be found here.
The Cougars will be back at the CN Centre tomorrow for the Cougars Fight Cancer game.
The full Cougars schedule can be found here.