Prince George, B.C. – The Prince George Cougars got a goal and an assist from Jared Bethune on their way to a 4-3 victory over the Chiefs in Spokane Saturday night.  It was their 44th victory of the season and secured the home ice advantage in the opening round of the WHL playoffs.

The victory was anything but a sure thing though.  The Cougars jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead after one period but were outscored 3-1 by the Chiefs in period number three, hanging on for the narrow one-goal victory with Spokane clearly dominating play.

Josh Curtis, Josh Anderson and Nikita Popugaev also had singles for Prince George while Nick McBride turned in a solid performance making 27 saves in the game.  The Cougars outshot Spokane 40-30 but took seven minor penalties, including the last five straight in the game, which led to two Spokane goals on the power play.  The Chiefs took three minor penalties.

The victory leaves the Cougars two points up on the Kelowna Rockets in the battle for first place in the BC Division as Kelowna edged the Victoria Royals 4-3 in overtime.

The Cougars have two left in the regular season, Friday night in Kamloops and a return match-up against the Blazers in Prince George Saturday night.  The Rockets have three games remaining.