Friday night in Prince George, rookie goaltender Brett Zarowny put on a fantastic display for the Prince George Cougars and their fans. Zarowny turned aside all 44 shots he faced, including 23 in the third period en route to a 1-0 victory for the Cougars over the Kamloops Blazers. Jordan Tkatch scored the game’s lone goal mid-way through the second period.

After one period the shots were 10-6 for Kamloops who started very strongly against the Cougars, who for the first time in 2013 had a full lineup that included 12 forwards, six defencemen and two goalies. Dallas Ehrhardt, Brett Roulston, and Rinalds Rosinskis were all back in the lineup for the Cougars, as was the newly acquired Klarc Wilson who made his team debut.

Though neither team scored, both teams had some good chances. Brett Zarowny’s first major save came late in the first off a Kamloops power play when he robbed Tim Bozon on a backdoor passing play.

The Cougars came out with some better jump in the second period and were rewarded at the mid-way point when Jordan Tkatch pounced on a Zach Pochiro rebound and beat Cole Cheveldave to the stick side. For Tkatch, his fourth of the season, and it opened up a 1-0 Cougars lead.

The third period belonged to Cougars netminder Brett Zarowny who made a series of wonderful saves. Kamloops had two power plays in the final period but were unable to solve Zarowny.

Late in the third with the net empty, the Kamloops Blazers had one final glorious chance, but Brett Zarowny was able to make a diving glove save off of Colin Smith at the side of the goal to keep the shutout, and more importantly to give the Cougars the victory.

The final shots on goal were 44-20 favoring Kamloops who went zero-for-three on their power play chances. The Cougars for all of their efforts did not receive a single power play on the night.

With the victory, the Prince George Cougars improve their record to 13-24-1-4, and now sit nine points ahead of Vancouver, and just four back of a playoff spot in the Western Conference standings. These two teams will do it all again on Saturday night from the CN Centre.