By: Dan O’Connor

Friday night in Kamloops, the Prince George Cougars earned a point, but dropped a 4-3 decision to the Kamloops Blazers in a shootout. Colin Smith had the lone shootout tally for the Blazers who erased a 3-0 deficit in the third period to earn the win. Troy Bourke, Chase Witala, and Marc McNulty recorded multi-point games for Prince George while goaltender Devon Fordyce turned aside 29 of the 32 shots he faced.

The Prince George Cougars drew first blood at 8:47 of the first period when Chase Witala put home is third of the preseason. Witala’s goal came on a powerplay with Colin Jacobs and Dallas Ehrhardt assisting.

Kamloops had a five-on-three powerplay opportunity in the first, but fell victim to a couple of goal-posts and a couple of timely saves from Devon Fordyce. The shots were 9-5 favoring Prince George after one period of play.

Daulton Siwak made it 2-0 for the Cougars at 8:52 of the second period. Siwak’s second of the preseason was assisted by both Troy Bourke and Marc McNulty. Bourke would then extend the lead to 3-0 at 15:48 with both Marc McNulty and Chase Witala securing assists. Bourke, Witala and McNulty would all finish the game with two points.

Prince George outshot Kamloops 22-14 through two periods of play.

6:23 into the third period, Colin Smith got Kamloops on the board. Smith beat Devon Fordyce for his third of the preseason with JC Lipon and Marek Hrbas assisting. Dylan Willick would add a powerplay marker before the half-way point of the third to make it a 3-2 game.

Late in the third, Kamloops was awarded another powerplay, and after a number of close opportunities, JC Lipon tied the score at 18:39 of the third period.

The Prince George Cougars were able to kill off a Kamloops powerplay in overtime, and came close themselves towards the end of extra-time, but in the end 65 minutes was not enough, and a shootout would be needed.

Both Brendan Ranford and Troy Bourke missed their respective chances before Colin Smith scored the only goal of the shootout. Alex Forsberg and Daulton Siwak were denied by Cole Cheveldave to secure the victory for Kamloops.

The Prince George Cougars outshot Kamloops 36-33, and finished one-for-five on the powerplay while Kamloops went two-for-seven.

Tonight’s disappointing finish aside, the Prince George Cougars have a lot to feel good about heading into their regular season opener. They managed points in four of their five preseason games, and finished with a record of 3-1-0-1 in the process. 22 of their players recorded at least one point during the preseason, and they outscored their opposition 18-12.

The Prince George Cougars regular season will kick off on Saturday, September 22^nd in Everett.