Wednesday night in Spokane the Prince George Cougars dropped a hard fought 1-0 game to the Spokane Chiefs. Chiefs netminder Lasse Petersen turned aside all 30 shots he faced to earn the shutout while at the other side of the ice, Cougars goaltender Nick McBride was excellent in his own right making 29 saves on the 30 shots he faced. The only goal of the game came via Jacob Cardiff in the late stages of the first period.

Despite trailing 1-0 after the first the Cougars took several positives away from their opening 20 minutes. Nick McBride made some big saves early, and the young Cougars defense corps that included four rookies played a strong first period and ultimately a strong 60 minutes considering the absence of captain Sam Ruopp. Lasse Petersen stopped all nine shots fired his way for the Chiefs to keep them up 1-0.

Spokane outshot the Cougars 13-8 in the middle frame but both goaltenders continued to put on a clinic. Petersen made his mark turning aside chances from Jesse Gabrielle and Chase Witala and at the other side McBride denied quality chances from Preston Kopeck and Markson Bechtold to keep the game at 1-0.

The third period provided more of the same. The Cougars outshot the Chiefs 13-10 but neither McBride or Petersen would be solved. Petersen made some great third period stops off of Luke Harrison early and Chase Witala from in close late to preserve the 1-0 victory.

Both teams finished the game with 30 shots apiece. Prince George went zero-for-four on the power play while the Chiefs went zero-for-three.

Wednesday’s game marked the WHL debut for two Cougars: 16-year-old forward Adam Kadlec and 15-year-old defenceman Jonas Harkins, both of whom played a regular shift and looked right at home in their first regular season taste of WHL action.

The Cougars record now sits at 32-25-3-1 and they’ll look to get a measure of revenge when they battle the Chiefs once again on Friday night at the Spokane Arena.