Cougars Drop 6-2 Score to Portland.
The Prince George Cougars dropped a 6-2 score to the Portland Winterhawks on Friday night in Prince George. Ty Rattie led the way with two goals and an assist, while Seth Jones chipped in with a goal and an assist of his own. Zach Pochiro supplied a goal and an assist in response for the Cougars.
Portland led 3-0 after the first period due in large part to four power play chances. Nic Petan scored the game’s first goal at 5:43, when he took a pass from the left wing and skated in alone on Mac Engel before beating him with a backhand.
Troy Rutkowski made it 2-0 on another power play at 12:45 when he one-timed home a pass from Brendan Leipsic from the slot area. Taylor Leier then made it 3-0 with a late goal at 18:53. Portland finished the period two-for-four on the power play.
The Prince George Cougars responded well to start the second with some good offensively chances. Mid-way through they were rewarded with a power play chance, and took full advantage. Zach Pochiro took a Dallas Ehrhardt pass and made a nice wrap-around move behind the goal and beat Brendan Burke for his 13th of the season.
The Cougars continued to pressure Portland and were given another power play, but this time Portland took advantage shorthanded. Ty Rattie stole the puck at the Cougars blueline and skated in alone on Mac Engel, and beat him with a backhand deke to increase Portland’s lead to 4-1.
Seth Jones would then make it 5-1 at 18:12 off a three-on-two rush to make it 5-1 Portland after two periods.
Early in the third Zach Pochiro was hauled down on a breakaway, which earned him a penalty shot opportunity on Brendan Burke. Pochiro’s shot was denied by the blocker of Burke, and the score remained 5-1.
Ty Rattie increased Portland’s lead to 6-1 with a goal at 9:19, and Troy Bourke would then notch the game’s final tally at 13:11 to round out the game’s scoring.
Each team finished the game with four power plays, the Winterhawks went two-for-four while the Cougars went one-for-four.
The final shots on goal were 43-26 for Portland who became the first team in the CHL to earn their 50th victory of the season. The Cougars on the other hand remain three points out of eighth place as Everett lost 6-2 in Tri-City.
Prince George and Portland will square off for the fourth and final time on Saturday night at the CN Centre.
Comments
tonite we had the pleasure of watching a team with speed , size and talent. guess which team?
I think that the coach is not doing a very good job. After all if I hired may son inlaw, I am sure he would do an excelent job. Dallas Could not get a job as a stick boy on another team.
He is not the coach,but you are correct on your other assertion. Portland has been dominating everybody, so this is not a surprize. Don’t forget they went into Kelowna and spanked them twice to stop Kelowna home winning streak.
Oh and half these good players on Portland have been sketchily paid to be there. Surprized that only the coach got suspended and fined.
I was there. Cougars were timid. Some overskated the puck, some never new the puck was heded their way, Portland only spent “hours” passing the puck back and forth in front of the Cougars goal. Insult to injury only 1700 people came to the game. Maybe they can move to the new Kin 1 when it’s finished. And solicit some “carbon credits” for downsizing their location relative to audience size. On the upside of the whole game it only took minutes to exit the parking lot. Keep up the good work,boys.
“Insult to injury only 1700 people came to the game.”
Why would I go Friday night when I can bring my family for half price on Saturday night?
Wasn’t last night minor hockey night or something like that? May explain how they managed to get 1700 people there.
I’ve been a vocal supporter of the Cougars for a while now but even I’m giving up hope for them. They have no size whatsoever and are just getting bowled over but every other team. They need to get some big defense players and they need to teach them how to play defensively.
The elephant in the room. They need more success before people will come back to watch. Obvious I know but I’m getting tired of watching a losing team……
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