Thursday night in Kelowna, the Prince George Cougars dropped a 3-0 game to the Kelowna Rockets. Despite outshooting the opposition 32-26, the Cougars were unable to beat Kelowna goaltender Jordan Cooke, while Myles Bell potted two goals for the home team.

The Cougars got off to a terrific start, outshooting Kelowna 6-0 in the early stages. Jordan Cooke had to be sharp as Colin Jacobs, Brock Hirsche and Zach Pochiro all had great chances to score.

Kelowna would grab the game’s first goal at 12:37 while short handed. Colton Sissons stole the puck from the Cougars and raced in alone on a breakaway. Dallas Ehrhardt impeded Sissons just enough that he couldn’t get a shot on goal, and the referees awarded Sissons a penalty shot.

Sissons made a nice move to the backhand to beat goaltender Mac Engel for his sixth of the season, and the Rockets led 1-0. The Cougars would come back strongly on their next few shifts, but were still unable to beat Cooke. The shots were 14-7 Prince George after one.

The second period brought more of the same. The Cougars peppered Jordan Cooke with shots, but the Kelowna netminder stood tall. At the other end, Mac Engel made some tough saves, most notably stopping Dylan McKinlay on a breakaway to keep the game within one. 

Late in the second period, Kelowna caught a break when an apparent icing call was not called by the officials. Damon Severson won a battle along the right wing wall and centered the puck to a wide-open Myles Bell who scored his seventh of the season with just nine seconds left on the clock to make it 2-0 Rockets. The Cats had a 24-15 edge in shots after 40 minutes.

Early in the third, Kelowna grabbed the game’s final goal when Myles Bell and Dylan McKinlay completed a give-and-go rush up the left wing side. McKinlay fed Bell in the slot and he made no mistake for his second of the night, and eighth of the season.

The Cougars were given three power play opportunities in the third, but were unable to capitalize, and the Rockets held on for the 3-0 victory despite being outshot. The Cougars killed off all four of Kelowna’s power play opportunities.

With the loss, the Cougars record now sits at 5-5-1-0, which puts them in a tie with Kelowna (also 5-5-1-0) for third place in the B.C. Division.

Prince George will look to put a halt to their four game losing streak when they take on the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday night. Saturday’s game marks the first of three consecutive meetings between the Cougars and the Chiefs.