Saturday night in Kelowna, the Prince George Cougars wrapped up a five-game, nine day road trip with a 4-3 loss to the Kelowna Rockets. A young Cougars lineup battled hard for 60 minutes and left it all on the ice after a busy week (and then some) full of travel, but ended up falling just short. Brad Morrison led the Cougars offense with three assists while Chase Witala, Aaron Macklin and Cal Babych tallied for the Cougars. Nick Merkley led the way with a goal and an assist for the Rockets in their victory.

Justin Kirkland opened the scoring for Kelowna on a backhand breakaway move at the 10:48 mark of the first period but the Cougars responded quickly.

Just over two minutes later Aaron Macklin pounced on a Brad Morrison rebound at the side of the Kelowna goal and tucked home his second of the season to get the Cougars back on even terms. Morrison made a great spin move to get his backhand shot on goal. Jansen Harkins earned the second assist and made a great pass to Morrison from the right wing to start the scoring play.

Late in the first Kelowna restored their lead when Tyson Baillie and Dillon Dube combined on a pretty passing play at the side of the Cougars goal. Baillie spun off a check beside the Cougars net, centered the puck to the slot and Dube pounced on the pass and beat Ty Edmonds for his eighth goal of the season.

After one period the Rockets held a 12-10 lead in the shot department.

Early in the second Kelowna increased their lead to 3-1 when Nick Merkley one-timed home a Riley Stadel pass. Ty Edmonds initially stopped the Merkley shot, but the rebound deflected in off a Cougar in front of him. For Merkley it was his 13^th goal of the season.

Prince George responded well in the second half of the second period. They fired 11 second period shots on the Kelowna goal, but Jackson Whistle made the necessary saves to keep his team ahead by two.

At the 8:44 mark of the third period on a power play the Cougars got back within a goal and for a third straight game Chase Witala delivered. Brad Morrison started the play with a pass to his right from the slot and Witala did the rest beating Whistle off of his own rebound to secure his team leading 21^st goal of the season.

Thomas Soustal restored the Rockets two goal lead on a power play marker of his own at 12:14 of the third, but yet again the Cougars had an answer.

This time the answer came via Cal Babych who raced down the left wing on a two-on-one rush put a shot on goal and then buried his own rebound by Whistle for his fourth goal of the season.

6:25 remained in the third period and the Cougars kept the pedal down. Jackson Whistle made some big saves off of both Jansen Harkins and Zach Pochiro to keep his team ahead.

The Cougars fought valiantly, but were unable to solve Whistle once more, and the Rockets held on to earn their 31^st victory of the season.

Prince George killed off six of Kelowna’s seven power play chances, and went one-for-three on their man advantage opportunities. Kelowna outshot the Cougars 33-29.

With the loss, the Cougars record now sits at 19-21-0-0. The Cougars loss coupled with a Giants overtime loss moves the Cougars to fourth in the B.C. Division and into ninth place in the B.C. Division standings. The Cougars finished their lengthy road-trip with a 2-3 record.

Now after a lengthy absense away from Prince George, the Cougars return home for an important two-game homestand against the Tri-City Americans which begins Tuesday night at the CN Centre which marks the first home game for the Cougars in 2015.