Halfway through the 2014-15 season the Prince George Cougars have won exactly half of their games and are knocking on the door of second place in the B.C. Division. Saturday night in Victoria the Cougars got a two goal effort from Zach Pochiro and a two assist effort from Tate Olson en route to a 4-3 victory over the Victoria Royals. The Cougars also got goals from Aaron Boyd and Victoria’s own Haydn Hopkins who netted a goal in front of his friends and family in attendance. Tyler Soy responded with goals for Victoria.

Prince George wasted little time in finding the score sheet. Zach Pochiro took a Tate Olson pass from behind the net in the slot and ripped a wrister past Coleman Vollrath and in for his sixth of the season and first of two on the night.

The score was 1-0 after one, but could have been much higher. The Cougars outshot Victoria 14-5 in the first, and were shorthanded three times in the first. Territorially the Cougars meant business.

Early in the second the Cougars added to their lead when the trio of Jared Bethune, Tyler Mrkonjic and Haydn Hopkins combined for Hopkins’ second of the season. Hopkins took the Bethune pass in the left circle, made a move to his right which made the defender bite, before skating in and sneaking a shot through Vollrath.

Aaron Boyd then made it 3-0 for the visitors a little over two minutes later. Tate Olson did a great job keeping a Victoria clearing attempt in at the blueline. He then fired a low shot towards the goal that Boyd deflected in. Boyd’s second of the season spelt the end of the night for Coleman Vollrath who was repaced by the younger Jayden Sittler.

Victoria started to push back. First it was Tyler Soy who snuck past the defense and was hauled down on a breakaway. Referee Derek Zalaski signaled for a penalty shot for Soy and the showdown was on.

Soy skated in slowly on Edmonds and made an indecisive move to his backhand, which Edmonds poke-checked away to keep the game at 3-0.

Soy would answer though with Victoria’s first goal of the game 23 seconds later though on a backhand shot that snuck it’s way through the legs of Edmonds.

Zach Pochiro then restored the Cougars lead at the 16:25 mark on a five-on-three Cougars power play. The Cougars had a 26-12 shot advantage through two, and were seemingly in complete control. But the Pochiro goal would prove to be a pivotal goal as the Royals would mount a comeback attempt in the last half of the third.

At 10:16 of the third period Tyler Soy got the Royals back within two when he knocked home a Greg Chase rebound.

Then with 1:02 left in the third with their goaltender pulled, Victoria crept back within a goal when Greg Chase’s wristshot snuck past Ty Edmonds, which set the table for a dramatic final minute.

With the net again empty, the Royals threw a number of pucks towards the Cougars net. Zach Pochiro, Joseph Carvalho and Sam Ruopp all came up with timely shot blocks, and the Cougars held off the Royals to secure their second win of the season against Victoria and their first win in Victoria since November 23, 2012.

The Cougars outshot Victoria 30-19 and finished one-for-six on the power play. Victoria went zero-for-five on their man advantage opportunities.

With the victory, the Cougars now sit at 18-18 and are just one point shy of second place in the B.C. Division. In 2013-14, the Cougars did not earn their 18^th victory until their 49^th game, which means the Cougars are already 13 games ahead of their pace from a season ago.

Now the Cougars will look to earn fourth double-header sweep of the season tomorrow afternoon when they face the Royals in a rematch at the Save on Foods Memorial Centre.