By: Dan O’Connor

Saturday afternoon in St. Albert, the Prince George Cougars kicked off their preseason with a 6-3 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. Tate Olson scored twice while Jarett Fontaine and Jordan Tkatch both had three-point games for Prince George.

The Red Deer Rebels led 2-1 after the first period. Jesse Miller opened the scoring for Red Deer at 3:44, but the Cougars would grab the equalizer mid-way through the first. 15-year-old first-rounder Brad Morrison scored the first preseason goal for the Prince George Cougars at 12:55 with John Odgers assisting.

 Dexter Bricker would score a late goal for Red Deer to give them the 2-1 lead after one.

At 6:52 of the second period, Joseph Carvalho would tie the score at two for Prince George. Jordan Tkatch and Jarrett Fontaine would add assists. Jarrett Fontaine would then strike shorthanded for the Cougars late in the second to give them a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Midway through the third period, the Cougars would pad their lead with two goals in a span of 13 seconds. Tate Olson tallied on the powerplay with Jarrett Fontaine and Dan Gibb assisting. Jake Mykitiuk then made it 5-2 at 9:15 of the third. Jordan Tkatch added his third assist of the game on Mykitiuk’s goal.

Tate Olson potted his second of the game at 13:52 with Dan Gibb and Brad Morrison assisting to make it 6-2 for the Cougars.

Red Deer’s Connor Bleackley would score a powerplay marker for Red Deer to make the final score 6-3.

The Red Deer Rebels finished one-for-eight on the powerplay while the Cougars were one-for-three.

Brett Zarowny earned the win for the Cougars and stopped nine of 10 shots while Ty Edmonds stopped 12 of the 14 shots that he faced in the first half of the game.

When all was said and done, Dan Gibb, Brad Morrison, Jake Mykituk, Tate Olson, Jarrett Fontaine and Jordan Tkatch recorded multiple-point games for the Cougars.

Next up, the Medicine Hat Tigers tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time.