Giants Sweep Weekend Doubleheader In Prince George

By 250 News

The bad blood between the Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants will have to simmer for two weeks before the two rivals get back at each other again.  The Cougars established season highs by taking 23 penalties for 107 minutes, while the Giants were charged with 22 penalties for 97 minutes in a 7-2 win for Vancouver Saturday night, sweeping the weekend doubleheader in Prince George.

The bad feelings between the two clubs started the night before in a heated 3-1 Giants win.  The hot button moment of the game happened in the second period when Brendan Gallagher's stick took the helmet off Cougars defenceman Jesse Forsberg but went unpenalized.  On the ensuing face-off, Gallagher scored to put the game out of reach and taunted the Cougars bench during his celebration.  While many in attendance expected the Cougars to set an early tone, it was the Giants who would deliver the first blow.  On a dump in to the Cougars zone, the puck bounced off the end boards and came straight out front of the net and Brett Breitkreuz pounced on the loose puck to open the scoring just 22 seconds into the game with his 11th goal of the season.  While the Giants Breitkreuz scored on the visitors first shot, the Cougars Breitkreuz would notch the tying goal on the Cougars first shot of the game.  Clarke Breitkreuz, Brett's younger brother, went to the front of the net and was able to shovel a shot over Giants goaltender Mark Segal for his first Western Hockey League goal.  The tally came at 2:30, with Spencer Asuchak and Parker Stanfield drawing assists on the goal.  Just three minutes later, Clarke was back at it again, chasing down a loose puck at centre ice and barged down the right wing into the Giants zone, then fed a perfect pass to Asuchak, who went backhand-forehand on Segal for his seventh goal of the season and a 2-1 Cougars lead.  It stayed that way after 20 minutes, with Cougars goalie Kyle Jahraus stopping 11 of 12 shots he faced, including a tremendous rebound save that started the Cougars second goal.  The Cougars had 10 shots in the opening 20 minutes.

But in the second period, the lead was short lived when Tomas Vincour scored his 19th goal of the season at 3:22 to tie the game at 2, rifling a quick wrist shot from a steep angle on the right wing side over the glove hand of Jahraus.  Giants Captain Lance Bouma took a goaltender interferance penalty when he rammed into Jahraus at 7:17, but the end result was disastrous for the Cougars.  First, Brent Henke scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 8:37 for his 8th goal of the year, then when Bouma stepped out of the penalty box, he took a feed from Gallagher and went in alone and scored his 12th marker of the season at 9:24.  The two goal swing put the Giants ahead 4-2.  Craig Cunningham added a power play goal at 19:25 for his 28th goal of the season and Vincour got his second goal of the night at 19:37 for a 6-2 Giants lead through 40 minutes.  The Giants out-shot Prince George 21-9.

The chippy game reached its climax at 5:22 of the third period when Nick Buonassisi and Neil Manning began pushing and shoving in the Vancouver crease.  That small dust-up led to an all-out line brawl, with all five players from each side dropping the gloves.  Out of that came an injury to Greg Fraser, who left the game and never returned after heading to the Cougars dressing room.  The Giants added one more tally with Cunningham getting his second goal of the night at 13:07 to make the final 7-2, giving the Giants six wins out of seven clashes with the Cougars this season.  The Cougars power play was held scoreless for the second consecutive night on seven tries, while the Giants went 1-for-7.  The Giants out-shot the Cougars 46-30 in the game and 13-11 in the third period.  The Giants improve their record with the win to 29-16-1-2, while the Cougars fall to 9-35-1-1.Both Breitkreuz brothers had multi-point games, with Clarke getting a goal and an assist for the Cougars and Brett had a goal and two helpers. 

On a positive note, Cougars fans showed tremendous generosity for a pair of worthy causes.  Fans donated two full bins worth of non-perishable food items, mostly Kellogg's cereal in a cup handed out at the game, which will go to help the Prince George Salvation Army.  Also, fans donated approximately one-thousand dollars, which will be matched by the Cougars organization, to help with earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

The Cougars get a few days to get ready for Dallas Jackson's return to CN Centre next week, as the former Cougars defenceman joins the Kelowna Rockets for a two game visit to Prince George Friday and Saturday.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us