24 hours removed from a 4-2 victory Friday the Cougars dropped a 2-1 decision to the Victoria Royals in the rematch Saturday. Mitchell Prowse and Ryan Peckford scored second period goals for the Royals while Kody McDonald had the lone Cougars tally early in the third period. Griffen Outhouse and Ty Edmonds both played well in goal for their respective teams with Outhouse finishing with 31 saves and Edmonds with 26. It marked just the second time this season that the Cougars have fallen to a B.C. Division foe.

For a second straight game the first period was a penalty-filled affair, only this time the Cougars were the beneficiary of some power plays. In fact they had five first period power plays (one of which was a major) but could not score. They outshot the Royals 10-6 in the first period.

Victoria used the momentum from their successful first period penalty kills to strike twice in the second. First it was Mitchell Prowse who snuck into the slot and rifled a shot past Ty Edmonds at 1:31 to put the visitors ahead 1-0. Then on a five-on-three power play the Royals went up 2-0 when Ryan Peckford converted on his eighth. Jack Walker assisted on both of Victoria’s second period goals.

After two periods the Royals led 2-0 and were outshooting the Cougars 22-16.

Richard Matvichuk’s crew came out firing in the third and were rewarded offensively when Kody McDonald converted off his own rebound at 5:49 to move his team back within one. McDonald’s seventh sparked the crowd which came to life. The feature game crowd of over 3800 strong were on the edge of their seats for the final period as the Cougars came close on a number of occasions.

Unfortunately Griffen Outhouse had the answers as he stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced and got some help from his goal post in the final minute of the game which helped the Royals secure the 2-1 win and their 15th victory of the season.

With the loss the Cougars record now sits at 20-7-2-0. Their four game home winning streak is snapped and they are now 1-1 on their current seven game home stand.

Next up: The defending WHL champions, the Brandon Wheat Kings who are in town Wednesday for their lone meeting of the regular season against the Cougars.