Winterhawks Earn 4-1 Win Over Cougars Friday

By 250 News

The Prince George Cougars lost their fourth in a row Friday, falling 4-1 to the Portland Winterhawks at the Rose Garden in Portland.

The Cougars were looking to extend their road winning streak to four with the first of two games on consecutive nights in Northern Oregon.  The Cougars and Winterhawks were seeing each other for the first time this season.  The game was scoreless through one period, with Ty Rimmer blocking all 11 shots he faced, including a big stop on Winterhawks sniper Ty Rattie from point blank range.  The Cougars had only four shots on Mac Carruth at the other end of the ice.

The Winterhawks broke the ice at 3:30 of the first period, when Svan Bartschi slid the puck home under Rimmer for his 20th goal of the season on the power play.  The Winterhawks added to their lead when Brad Ross fired home his 14th off a pass from Troy Rutkowski at 7:46.  Spencer Bennett would up the hosts lead to 3-0 at 14:25, sneaking a shot under the cross bar from the right wing side for his 10th of the year.  The Cougars, though, would get on the board at 18:44, when Spencer Asuchak banged home a loose puck past Carruth for his 10th of the year.  Jesse Forsberg and Sena Acolatse drew the assists, as the Cougars trailed 3-1 through 40 minutes.  The Cougars out-shot the Winterhawks 11-10.

In the third, the Cougars came close to drawing to within a goal, but the only marker came off the stick of Riley Boychuk, who scored an empty net goal with less than two seconds to play, to give the Winterhawks a 4-1 victory.  Portland improves to 23-8-0-3, while the Cougars fall to 15-13-2-1 on the season.  The Cougars were out-shot 9-8 in the third and 30-23 in the game.  Prince George went 0-for-4 on the power play, including a 40 second 5-on-3 man advantage early in the third.  Portland went 1-for-3.

The Cougars and Winterhawks meet again Saturday night, then the Cougars open an eight game homestand against the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday, December 14, starting at 7:00pm at CN Centre.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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