Saturday night in Kelowna, the Prince George Cougars dropped a 5-0 score to the Kelowna Rockets. Colton Heffley recorded three assists for the Rockets while Jackson Whistle turned aside 21 shots for the shutout.

Kelowna took an early 1-0 lead at 2:17 of the first period when Tyrell Goulbourne tucked home a Riley Stadel rebound for his second of the season. Kelowna kept applying early pressure, but Cougars goaltender Mac Engel had an answer for 10 of the 11 shots he faced in the first period.

Early in the second, the Cougars came on strong. Marc McNulty did his best to spark the team with a fight against Kelowna’s Mitchell Wheaton. McNulty earned the takedown, and gave the Cougars some momentum. Prince George fired nine shots towards Jackson Whistle in the second, with the best chance coming off the stick of captain Brock Hirsche.

Late in the second, Kelowna extended their lead to 2-0 on a Ryan Olsen power play goal. Myles Bell raced down the left wing, and centered a puck to the waiting Olsen who capitalized from the slot. Cody Fowlie would add a late goal with 45 seconds left in the period to make it 3-0 Kelowna after two.

Towards the end of the second, the Cougars were given a five-on-three power play opportunity that lasted 1:18, but the Rockets were able to kill it off.

With 6:01 gone in the third period, Tyson Baillie extended Kelowna’s lead to 4-0 with a goal off a two-on-one. Rourke Chartier then followed with the fifth Rockets’ goal just 1:44 later to wrap up the game’s scoring.

Mac Engel was pulled from the Cougars goal after Chartier’s marker, and Brett Zarowny finished the game for the Cougars, turning aside all eight shots he faced. Mac Engel stopped 22 of the 27 shots he faced, many of which were quality scoring chances.

The final shots on goal had Kelowna in front by a 35-21 margin. The Cougars finished zero-for-four on the power play while Kelowna went one-for-three.

The loss halts the Cougars three-game point streak, and moves their record to 7-8-1-1. The victory for Kelowna helps them improve to 10-6-1-1.

Prince George now returns home to face the defending champion Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and Saturday at CN Centre.