Wednesday night in Red Deer, the Prince George Cougars dropped a 4-1 decision to the Red Deer Rebels. Rhyse Dieno paced the Rebels with two goals late in the first period and Patrik Bartosak made 32 saves to lift Red Deer to victory. Zach Pochiro extended his point streak to five games with a goal late in the third period for Prince George.

Late in the first period the Rebels struck first when Haydn Fleury took the puck from his own zone and skated all the way down the left wing side of the ice towards the Cougars goal. Fleury then centered a pass perfectly to Rhyse Dieno who buried his 22^nd. Dieno would then add a power play marker just over three minutes later to give Red Deer a 2-0 lead after one.

Red Deer extended their lead late in the second period on a power play. Matt Bellerive took a Mathew Dumba pass, skated down the left wing side, and then centered a puck in front to the waiting Joel Hamilton who beat Mac Engel up high for his ninth of the season. Dumba would finish the game with three assists, leading all scorers.

Red Deer led 3-0 after two, and the shots were even at 23-23. Prince George had some good chances towards the end of the second, but Jordan Tkatch and Jari Erricson were turned away by Patrik Bartosak who finished the game with 32 saves on 33 shots faced.

Red Deer made it 4-0 early in the third when Brooks Maxwell grabbed a loose puck from the slot, and fired a low shot under the legs of Mac Engel for his seventh of the season.

Zach Pochiro ended Patrik Bartosak’s shutout bid with just over three minutes remaining in the third period when he took a Colin Jacobs pass off a two-on-one and out-waited Bartosak for his 11^th of the season. That goal helped Pochiro extend his point-streak to five games.

Red Deer finished with a slight edge in the shots-on-goal: 35-33. The Cougars killed off five of their seven penalties and finished zero-for-two on the man advantage. The loss pushes the Cougars record to 17-32-2-6, and they remain two points back of the Seattle Thunderbirds for eighth in the West.

The Prince George Cougars will look to get back into the win column on Friday night when they face the Medicine Hat Tigers.