The Prince George Cougars never went away, but special teams made the ultimate difference Wednesday night at home. Rihards Bukarts and Nolan Patrick each had two goals and an assist as the Wheat Kings defeated the Cougars 7-4. The Wheat Kings converted on four of their eight power plays while the Cougars finished two-for-seven. Jared Bethune and Sam Ruopp had multi-point games for Prince George.

Sam Ruopp set the early tone with a thundering body check on Jesse Gabrielle. Macoy Erkamps took exception for Brandon and dropped the gloves with Ruopp, but was assessed the instigator penalty. The Cougars would then take full advantage.

Brad Morrison snuck into slot, and one-timed Jared Bethune’s pass from the corner through Jordan Papirny for his second goal of the season.

Back came the Wheat Kings though with two of their own. First it was Rihards Bukarts who roofed one over the glove of Ty Edmonds and in for his first of two on the night and then late in the period on a power play, Reid Duke one-timed a Nolan Patrick pass by Edmonds to give Brandon a 2-1 lead after one.

Early in the second Brandon extended their lead with another power play tally. This time it was Patrick who knocked home an Eric Roy rebound for his third of the season.

Chance Braid got the Cougars back within one when he took a Tyler Mrkonjic pass, shifted to the middle of the ice and beat Papriny with a low shot for his third of the season.

But just over three minutes later the Wheat Kings restored their two goal advantage when Tyler Coulter beat Ty Edmonds on a breakaway.

It was 4-2 for Brandon after two and the shots on goal favored the visitors 26-20.

Ivan Provorov gave Brandon their first three goal lead of the night at 8:54 of the third period on the power play with a shot from the point, and appeared to have the game in hand.

Back came the Cougars though with two quick goals in the span of a minute and eight seconds. First Jared Bethune knocked home a Sam Ruopp rebound on the power play for his first ever goal in the WHL, and then Chase Witala spun off a check and beat Papirny low for his seventh of the season.

Again though, the Wheat Kings were able to take advantage of a power play opportunity to regain their two goal lead. Nolan Patrick notched his second of the night off a Tim McGauley rebound, and then Rihards Bukarts put the game away with an empty-netter to secure Brandon’s ninth win of the season.

For the Cougars it was their first loss at home since September 27^th and was just their third loss in their past nine games. They’re record now sits at 7-6 ahead of this weekend’s trip to Alberta where they’ll play three games in three nights starting on Friday in Red Deer.