Saturday night in Prince George, the Cougars wrapped up their preseason with a 6-1 victory against the Kamloops Blazers. Alex Forsberg paced the Cougars with two goals and two helpers while Brett Zarowny stopped 30 of the 31 shots fired his way. The victory helped the Cougars secure a 5-0 preseason record.

Alex Forsberg opened the game’s scoring at 11:52 of the first period. Blazers defenceman Josh Connolly spun off a check behind his own goal, but lost a handle on the puck in front of his net and Forsberg was there to tap home is first of the game.

Less than two minutes later Kamloops responded on the power play. Matt Needham pounced on a Cole Ully rebound and was able to stuff it past Brett Zarowny for his first preseason marker.

At the end of one period the score was 1-1 with Kamloops holding a slight edge in shots (11-9).

Early in the second, it was newcomer Peter Kosterman who helped restore the Cougars lead. Kosterman took an Alex Forsberg pass and wired a shot past goaltender Bolton Pouliot from the left point. David Soltes added an assist.

Late in the period the Cougars increased their lead to 3-1 on a power play. Jordan Tkatch made a great play in the neutral zone to chip a puck past the Kamloops defender, and onto the stick of Chase Witala. Witala skated in on a two-on-one with Jansen Harkins and was able to sneak the puck past Pouliot for his first preseason marker.

The home team skated into the locker room with a 3-1 lead after two periods and a 26-22 edge in the shots department.

Prince George continued to pour it on in the third period. Martin Bobos made it 4-1 with a power play goal at 3:38, and then Alex Forsberg and Raymond Grewal followed up with goals later in the period to make the final score 6-1.

Alex Forsberg was named the game’s first star thanks to his efforts. His two goals and two assists were a game high, while his teammates Jordan Tkatch, and Raymond Grewal each had two point games.

The final shots were 40-31 in favor of the Cougars who finished the game two-for-eight on the power play. Kamloops went one-for-four on their man advantage chances.

With Saturday’s victory, the Prince George Cougars improved their preseason record to 5-0. They outscored their opponents 25-8 in the preseason and along with the Kelowna Rockets have surrendered the fewest number of goals in the entire Western Conference.

Now the Cougars will turn their attention to the regular season. The season officially gets going on Friday, September 20^th when the Cougars head to Portland to battle the defending WHL Champs, the Portland Winterhawks.