Royals Edge Cougars 2-1.
Saturday night in Prince George, the Victoria Royals squeaked past the Prince George Cougars with a 2-1 victory. Axel Blomqvist broke open a 1-1 tie with a breakaway goal at 12:34 of the second period to give Victoria all four available points from the weekend. Patrik Polivka faced 32 shots and stopped 31 for the Royals while Ty Edmonds stopped 19 of the 21 shots fired his way. The Cougars lone goal came courtesy of Todd Fiddler in the first period.
8:52 into a penalty filled first period, the Cougars took a 1-0 lead when Jansen Harkins and Todd Fiddler combined for Fiddler’s team leading 45th goal of the season. After a Zach Pochiro steal, Harkins took the pass and then centered the puck for Fiddler who made no mistake, sneaking the puck through the Victoria goaltender to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
After one the score remained the same with the Cougars outshooting Victoria 11-7.
Victoria tied the game 6:50 into the second period off a truly bizarre play. Chaz Redekopp skated the puck out of his own zone up the left wing side, and then passed the puck to Jack Walker in the middle of the ice. Walker deflected Redekopp’s pass deep into the Cougars zone towards the Cougars goal. The puck then took a tremendously unlucky bounce and snuck underneath the blocker of Ty Edmonds and into the net for Walker’s sixth goal of the season.
Prince George responded well, but Patrik Polivka kept the door shut, and the game tied 1-1.
The game’s final goal came at 12:34 when Ben Walker threaded a gorgeous pass from his own blueline to Axel Blomqvist at the Cougars blueline. Blomqvist gained some speed, burst past the defence and beat Edmonds with a high shot to the blocker side for his 22nd goal of the season.
Victoria took the 2-1 lead into the third, but were being outshot 22-15 through 40 minutes.
Early in the third the Cougars had an abundance of scoring chances. Within the first four minutes of the period, the Cougars had hit two goal-posts, and Polivka had to make a dynamite save from in close off of Jansen Harkins.
Victoria held on for the 2-1 win despite being badly outshot: 32-21. Neither team scored on the power play as Prince George went zero-for-three while Victoria went zero-for-four.
With the loss the Cougars record now sits at 26-34-3-5, and their playoff gap is now back to four points thanks to Tri-City’s 3-0 win in Spokane. Now with four games remaining in their season, the Cougars will need to win at least three of them, and get a ton of help from other teams in the WHL.
The Cougars return to action on Friday night at home against Spokane.
Comments
That flushing sound is the Cougars playoff hopes for the year.
It’s probably for the best, because they’d have to face Kelowna in the first round anyway.
I know you’re a Shari fan JB…get used to that flushing sound, it’s the same one you will hear in November.
Lol. Actually, I didn’t vote for her, so I don’t know where you get that idea.
Having said that, she might get re-elected if a) she decides to run again, and b) who her opponents are. Are you prepared for that, 4seasons?
Lol. No-one admits to voting for her. Your comments are usually in her favour so that could be where I got that idea. I’d be surprised if she ran again, humiliation is a tough pill to swallow. I’m quite positive that any opponent could put her down. So I am prepared for that and perhaps she’ll be looking for greener pastures….but not in Ottawa.
I voted for Rogers. You probably didn’t even vote. And you’re dreaming if you think ‘anybody’ could get more votes.
People who rule the anonymous comment sections generally do not rule when election day comes around. Look at the last Provincial election for an example.
Myself, I couldn’t care less if Green got in again or not. That being said, I am not so arrogant that I would ever rule out the incumbent.
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