Win 400 For Dean Clark, Cougars Knock Off Wheat Kings 5-3

By 250 News

Cougars Head Coach Dean Clark became the 12th member of the 400 win club among WHL coaches, as he guided the Cougars to a 5-3 victory over one of his former teams, the Brandon Wheat Kings, Wednesday night at CN Centre.  The win was backstopped by a former Wheat Kings goalie, James Priestner, who has won three straight games, making 31 saves for the games first star selection.

The Cougars were trying to add to the Wheat Kings woes, who had lost six straight games coming into the match in Prince George.  The Cougars were looking to hit three consecutive wins for the first time since February 2009.  The Cougars Captain got things rolling in the first period, finishing off a great pass by Taylor Stefishen for his 10th goal of the season, matching the mark he set last year in just 16 games.  The goal, which came at 4:24 of the first, extends Connolly's goal streak to six and his point streak to 11 this season and 13 overall.  Sena Acolatse, the CHL's Player of the Week, earned the second assist on the goal.  The Wheat Kings, though, would break through late in the first with a pair of tallies.  Brenden Walker notched his fifth of the season on a breakaway at 16:54 and Paul Ciarelli knocked in his third of the season at 18:16 for a 2-1 Wheat Kings lead through 20 minutes, even though they were out-shot 16-8 in the opening frame.  Liam Liston had to be great in the first period for the Wheat Kings in goal, with the Cougars at one point out-shooting Brandon 11-2.

In the second period, the Cougars would get an answer to the deficit, on a beautiful passing play finished off by James Dobrowolski.  Nick Buonassisi fed Troy Bourke in front of the Brandon goal and he quickly passed back the other way to Dobrowolski, who finished off his third goal of the year at 9:57 to tie the game at two.  Greg Fraser would get his first goal at 14:21, beating Wheat Kings defenceman Ryan Pulock one-on-one, then sticking a shot on the blocker side to give the Cougars the lead again at 3-2.  Buonassisi and Cody Carlson drew helpers on the goal.  Just 35 seconds later, Martin Marincin sprung Connolly loose on a breakaway, and Connolly would go low blocker side for his second of the night and 11th of the year for a 4-2 Cougars lead.  Stefishen would get his second assist to go along with the Marincin assist.  But the Wheat Kings Dominick Favreau redirected a shot past Priestner for his first of the year to cut the Cougars lead to 4-3 after two periods.  The Cougars were out-shot 15-14 in the middle frame.

Troy Bourke would get the only goal of the third period, stuffing a loose puck past Liston for his third of the season and a 5-3 Cougars lead.  Buonassisi would get his third assist and Acolatse would notch his second assist on the goal.  The Cougars were out-shot 11-8 in the final period, but out-shot the Wheat Kings 38-34 in the game.  For the Cougars, it improves the club's record to 6-4-1-0, while the Wheat Kings fall to 4-7-0-0.  Both teams were scoreless on the power play.  The Cougars had five chances and Brandon had four, one of which a 5-on-3 for close to a minute.

The Cougars will now go for a fourth straight win as they go up against the Tri-City Americans Friday, the first of back-to-back games with the Ams at CN Centre.  Puck drop is 7:00pm and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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