By: Dan O’Connor

Saturday night in Prince George, the Prince George Cougars were defeated 6-1 by the Kamloops Blazers. The Blazers scored twice in each period while the Cougars countered with an early power play marker in the second period that was scored by Martin Marincin. 

The Blazers led 2-0 after one. Both Kamloops goals came courtesy of Brendan Ranford who scored once on a power play in a scrum in front of Drew Owsley, and scored the other on a breakaway. The shots were 14-5 for Kamloops after one. 

Early in the second, the Cougars found some life in the power play. Martin Marincin fired a shot home from the right point with Jesse Forsberg screening Cole Cheveldave. Marincin’s fourth of the season put the Cougars within one, and for the next six minutes were the better team. The Cougars had a couple of good chances to score, but neither Troy Bourke or Martin Marincin were able to beat Cole Cheveldave. 

Kamloops extended their lead to 3-1 when Tim Bozon knocked home a bouncing puck in the slot area, and late in the period Bronson Maschmeyer tallied on the power play to give Kamloops a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. 

Early in the third the Blazers made it 5-1 on Maschmeyer’s second of the game. The 5-1 goal spelt the end of the night for Drew Owsley who stopped 25 of the 30 shots he faced. Devon Fordyce relieved Owsley and surrendered one goal on 11 shots faced. The final goal from Kamloops came courtesy of Matthew Needham who scored on a power play late in the third. 

The final shots on goal were 41-16 for Kamloops. The Blazers went three-for-six on the power play while the Cougars were one-for-two. 

The Cougars record now sits at 13-25-0-2 and they now trail Victoria by three points in the Western Conference standings with two games still in hand.

The Cats are back in action on ‘Trade Deadline Tuesday’ in Vancouver.