Cougars Shut Out Chilliwack 4-0

By 250 News

The Prince George Cougars scored two in the first and two more in the second period and James Priestner shut the door for his fifth career WHL shut-out, in a 4-0 win in Chilliwack Wednesday.The Cougars were trying to break out of a mini two game slide, after a pair of losses to Kelowna at CN Centre last weekend. But, the Cougars were victorious in their last road outing on November 13, a 3-2 shoot-out win in Vancouver. The Cougars were facing a Bruins squad that were just one point ahead of the Cougars in the BC Division standings heading into their first showdown of the year. In the first period, after the Cougars had successfully killed off the Bruins first power play, Wilson Dumais started a three man rush chipping the puck out of the Cougars zone. Dumais couldn't get a shot away from the right side, but the puck went to Nick Buonassisi who fed Greg Fraser jumping into the rush. Fraser wasted no time ripping home his fourth goal of the season into the open Bruins cage at 13:49. The Cougars would get a second goal in the period at 17:24, when Spencer Asuchak came into the Bruins zone on a 1-on-1 rush and squeezed a backhand shot through the legs of Lucas Gore for his ninth goal of the season, putting the Cougars in front 2-0. Brock Hirsche and Cody Carlson drew assists on the goal. The Cougars and Bruins both had 11 shots on net in the first period.The Cougars continued their strong play with an excellent second period and were rewarded at 11:15, when James Dobrowolski shook off a check in front of the Bruins goal and beat Gore on the glove side for a 3-0 Prince George lead. Dobrowolski took a pass with his stick tied up from Brett Connolly, but kicked the puck to his stick and scored on the backhand for his fifth goal of the year and a four game point streak. Connolly and Taylor Stefishen drew the assists. Then Connolly set up a Cougars power play goal at 16:06, driving into the Bruins zone on the right wing. After jamming on the breaks, he fed Sena Acolatse who pounded home his seventh of the year for a 4-0 Cougars lead. That's the way it stood through 40 minutes, with the Cougars out-shooting the Bruins 8-5.The Bruins out-shot the Cougars 12-4 in the third and 28-23 in the game, but Priestner did the rest for his fifth career shut-out and first since January, 2009, in a 4-0 Cougars win. The shut-out is the Cougars second this season, after Ty Rimmer earned his first in Seattle on October 29. The Cougars were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Bruins top ranked man advantage only had three chances and were unsuccessful with each try. The Cougars improve to 12-10-2-0 with the victory, which takes the Cougars from a tie for ninth in the Western Conference to a four-way tie for fifth in the extremely tight conference.The Cougars come home to face the Regina Pats Friday night at CN Centre, starting at 7:00pm. Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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