For just the second time in 43 games, the Prince George Cougars required overtime to decide their fate. Friday night in Victoria, the Cougars dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Victoria Royals. Tyler Soy banged home a Travis Brown rebound 63 seconds into overtime to give the Royals the extra point. Chase Witala and Aaron Boyd both scored shorthanded to provide the Cougars with their offense. Despite the loss, Ty Edmonds was solid stopping 33 of the 36 shots he faced in the Cougars net.

11:23 into the first the Royals drew first blood when Brandon Magee took an Alex Forsberg pass and ripped a shot over the glove of Ty Edmonds for his 12^th of the season.

Late in the first period down 1-0 the Cougars ran into some penalty trouble but ended up striking twice while shorthanded to steer momentum back in their favor.

First it was Chase Witala who took the puck from his own zone, maneuvered his way through a pair of Victoria defensemen before tucking his own rebound past goaltender Coleman Vollrath at the 14:37 mark to even the game at one.

Then at 19:03 of the first, Aaron Boyd struck for the Cougars when they were down a man to give them a first period lead. That play got started when Jari Erricson stole the puck in the corner of the Victoria zone, spun around off a Royals defender and centered the puck to the wide open Boyd who did the rest beating Vollrath for his third of the season. Two of Boyd’s three career goals in the WHL have come while shorthanded.

3:39 into the second Victoria tied the game when Brandon Magee took a long Greg Chase stretch pass, raced down the right wing, and snuck a shot underneath the blocker of Edmonds for his second of the game and 14^th of the season.

Victoria continued to apply pressure in the second outshooting the Cougars 19-5, but Ty Edmonds stood his ground coming up with some timely stops to keep the game tied. The shots were 28-15 after two for Victoria.

Prince George responded well defensively in the third, keeping Victoria without a shot on goal until the 11 minute mark of the final period. The Cougars outshot the Royals 9-5 in the third, but neither team was able to find the back of the net again and overtime would be required.

63 seconds into the overtime period, Tyler Soy ended the game for Victoria when he crashed the net hard and knocked home a Travis Brown rebound for his 15^th of the season.

The single point proved to be valuable for the Cougars who still remain a point ahead of Vancouver for third place in the B.C. Division despite the fact that the Vancouver Giants won their game against Medicine Hat. Their record now sits at 20-22-1-0.

It was an interesting night in the special teams department as the Cougars went zero-for-four on the power play, but killed off six of Victoria’s seven power play chances and scored twice shorthanded.

The final shot totals were:36-22 for Victoria.

Next up, the Cougars will once again clash with the Victoria Royals on Saturday night for the sixth meeting of eight this season.