Cougars Fall 5-4 In Shoot Out To Seattle

By 250 News

The Cougars scored eight times in two games against a premiere goalie in the Western Hockey League in a pair of games at CN Centre with the Seattle Thunderbirds.  However, the Cougars come away from the two game set with one point, falling 5-4 in a shoot-out Saturday to the Thunderbirds.

The Cougars were looking to respond from a 5-4 loss in regulation Friday to the Thunderbirds, with Colin Jacobs scoring three times for the Seattle win.  The Cougars were able to get to Calvin Pickard early again Saturday, when Sena Acolatse fired home a back hand from the slot for his eighth goal of the season at 4:09.  James Dobrowolski and Taylor Stefishen drew assists on the goal, which extended Acolatse's point streak to six games.  Charles Inglis notched his 13th goal at 5:48, snapping a wrist shot over Pickard's glove hand for a 2-0 Cougars lead, giving Inglis a goal in three of the last four games.  Troy Bourke got the lone assist.  The Cougars would take a 3-0 lead at 13:07 when Spencer Asuchak fired a pass in front of the goal that was tipped away by Pickard, but right to Greg Fraser who scored his sixth goal of the year.  16-year old Josh Smith also earned an assist, his first point of the season.  But the Thunderbirds responded with two late goals from Charles Wells on the power play at 18:22 and Brenden Dillon at 19:19.  The Cougars took a 3-2 lead to the dressing room, out-shooting Seattle 15-13 in the first.

Dobrowolski, who scored twice Wednesday, got another goal just 31 seconds into the second period, lifting a high shot past Pickard for his eighth of the year, to give the Cougars a 4-2 lead.  Stefishen and Martin Marincin got the assists.  But after scoring in the opening minute of the period, the Cougars gave up a goal in the final minute, when Marcel Noebels redirected a pass from Luke Lockhart over Ty Rimmer's right shoulder to cut the Cougars lead to 4-3.  The Cougars out-shot Seattle 10-7.

The only goal of the third was scored by Seattle, when Wells got his second goal of the game, sneaking the puck under Rimmer to tie the game at four at 13:25.  The Cougars out-shot the Thunderbirds 14-11, but were headed for overtime.  In the extra period, Cody Carlson had the best chance when he was fed alone in front of the Seattle goal and walked in on Pickard, but was stopped with the left pad.  The Cougars and Thunderbirds were headed to a shoot-out, with the Cougars out-shooting the Thunderbirds 4-1 in overtime and 43-33 in the game.

In the shoot-out, neither team scored in the first three attempts and Nick Buonassisi and Connor Sanvido exchanged goals in the fourth round.  In the fifth round, Inglis snapped a shot off the goal post, giving Jacobs a chance to win the game.  Jacobs did that, scoring through Rimmer's legs for the 5-4 victory, improving the Thunderbirds record to 13-8-3-4, while the Cougars now sit at 15-11-2-1 for 33 points, one ahead of Kelowna and Vancouver for first in the BC Division.  The Cougars were 0-for-4 on the power play and Seattle went 1-for-3.

The Cougars get set for a date with the Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday, starting at 7:00pm at CN Centre to finish the four game homestand.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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