For a third straight meeting dating back to the preseason, the Prince George Cougars and the Kamloops Blazers needed all 65 minutes, and then some to determine a winner. Saturday night in Kamloops, the Blazers earned a 5-4 shootout decision over the Prince George Cougars. Ryan Hanes scored his first goal as a Cougar while Colin Jacobs and Jari Erricson each had a goal and an assist each for the Cougars. JC Lipon and Cole Ully both scored twice in response for Kamloops.

It was a scoreless game after one period of play, but the Cougars outshot Kamloops 11-8. Prince George had a couple of great chances in the first, but Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave ensured that it stayed at 0-0 through the first 20 minutes.

Early in the second the Cougars opened the scoring when Colin Jacobs, Daulton Siwak and Jari Erricson combined on a nice tic-tac-toe play from behind the Kamloops net. Daulton Siwak made a superb no-look pass from behind the net right onto the tape of Erricson, who notched his sixth of the season to make it 1-0.

Shortly after the 1-0 goal, Kamloops went on a power play, and nearly tied it, but Mac Engel made a highlight reel save off of Tim Bozon from in close to keep the score at 1-0.

Colin Jacobs increased the lead to 2-0 when he lifted a backhand past Cole Cheveldave late on a power play. For Jacobs it was his team leading ninth of the season, with Jari Erricson assisting.

After the halfway point of the second, Kamloops started their comeback. Colin Smith took the puck down the right wing side, and centered the puck through a couple of bodies right onto the stick of JC Lipon who made no mistake for his 20^th of the season.

Cole Ully then made it 2-2 when he took a Brendan Ranford pass in the slot and wired a low shot past Mac Engel for his seventh of the season.

Kamloops took a 3-2 lead early in the third on a power play when Cole Ully fired home his second of the game from the right point. It was a slower shot that somehow found it’s way through some bodies and past Mac Engel.

Chase Witala responded for the Cougars at 11:03 of the third period with his third of the season. Jarrett Fontaine and Jordan Tkatch did a lot of the dirty work to get the play started and both earned assists for their efforts.

The Cougars were then given a power play a few moments later, and the newest Cougars acquisition Ryan Hanes was able to shovel a backhand shot through Cole Cheveldave for his first of the season, and first as a Cougar. Both Marc McNulty and underage forward Brad Morrison assisted on Hanes’ goal to make it 4-3.

JC Lipon would answer back for Kamloops with his 21^st of the season. Lipon was able to work his way into the high slot area and fired a shot over the blocker of Mac Engel to tie the game at four.

Late in the third, the Cougars took a penalty, which resulted in Kamloops getting an offensive zone faceoff with just 12.5 seconds left in regulation. They were unable to mount any offense, and overtime was needed.

The Cougars did a great job of keeping the Blazers out of their zone for the first two minutes of O.T. and ultimately 65 minutes was not enough, and the shootout was required.

Brendan Ranford made it 1-0 Kamloops when he beat Mac Engel with a wrist shot to the stick-side. Each team would miss their next two opportunities, which meant that Daulton Siwak had to score for Prince George to keep the shootout alive, which he did.

After Tim Bozon and Colin Jacobs both missed on their chances, JC Lipon raced in on Engel and beat him with a forehand deke. Jordan Tkatch was stopped by Cole Cheveldave to seal the victory for Kamloops.

The Cougars finished the game two-for-seven on the power play and killed off four of the five Kamloops chances.

Cougars prospect Brad Morrison had a solid Cougars debut, and earned his first ever WHL point with an assist on Ryan Hanes’ third period marker.

The shootout loss gives the Cougars their 18^th point of the season, and their record now sits at 7-11-1-3. Prince George will now return home for their lone meeting of the regular season against the Regina Pats, which goes Tuesday night from the CN Centre.