Cougars with teddy bears at the ready – photo 250News

The Prince George Cougars are heading into their holiday break in second place in the B.C. Division after one of their most convincing victories of the season so far.

In front of 5560 strong the Prince George Cougars secured an 8-2 victory Saturday over the Victoria Royals on Teddy Bear Toss Night. Chase Witala and Brad Morrison each had four points for the Cougars while Colby McAuley (after some initial confusion) will go down as the 2015 ‘Teddy Bear’ hero. Nick McBride made 31 saves on 33 shots faced to help lead the Cougars to their 21^st victory of the season.

The score after 20 minutes was 1-1. Victoria opened the scoring at the 4:57 mark of the first period on a power play when Vladimir Bobylev popped home his 11^th. But late in the period on a power play of their own the Prince George Cougars would record their first of eight goals on the night when Shane Collins let a shot go from the right point. Collins’ shot tipped off of Colby McAuley and past Griffen Outhouse for his ninth of the season which tied the game at one. The goal was credited to Shane Collins in the building but Mark Holick confirmed during a postgame interview that Colby McAuley was indeed the Teddy Bear scorer. 

After a 15 minute delay for the purposes of Teddy Bear cleanup, and a successful marriage proposal play resumed with no further goals in the first. The Cougars outshot Victoria 12-10 in the first. 

The first seven minutes of the second period belonged entirely to the Prince George Cougars who struck three times in a 4:01 span to open up a 4-1 advantage. First it was Chase Witala who one-timed home his 21^st of the season from Tate Olson. Then Brogan O’Brien redirected a Chase Witala pass by Outhouse for his 10^th of the season on a power play, and then Brad Morrison, Jared Bethune and Jansen Harkins combined for a beautiful goal at the 6:27 mark when Bethune converted off a Harkins pass from the left corner. 

The Bethune goal spelled the end of the night for Outhouse who was yanked from the game after allowing four goals on 23 shots faced. In came 20-year-old Coleman Vollrath which seemed to spark the Royals. 

Alex Forsberg inched the Royals back within two when he raced down the left wing and ripped home his 12^th of the season, but the Cougars kept the door shut the rest of the way in the second and went into the second intermission ahead 4-2. 

The final 20 minutes resulted in four Prince George Cougars goals unanswered. First it was Jesse Gabrielle who blasted home his 20^th of the season to make it 5-2. Then Brad Morrison one-timed home his 11^th of the season a minute and 13 seconds later to improve the score to 6-2. 

One of the major highlights of the night took place at the 13:31 mark of the third when Kolby Johnson knocked home a Sam Ruopp rebound for his first goal in the Western Hockey League! Then at 17:45 of the final stanza Brad Morrison grabbed the Cougars season high eighth goal of the game off a terrific tic-tac-toe play with Jansen Harkins from in close. 

The Cougars outshot Victoria 44-33 and finished the night two-for-five on the power play. Victoria responded with a one-for-five power play success-rate.

With the victory the Prince George Cougars improve to 21-11-1-1 and they move into second place in the B.C. Division thanks to a game in hand that they hold on Victoria. The Cougars will now head into the holiday break with a 10 game improvement to their record compared to a season ago.

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The Prince George Cougars would like to thank all of our great fans and community supporters who came out in droves Saturday night to support our team! It was an incredible night, and an incredible atmosphere and we can’t wait to welcome our fans back in 2016!