Cougars Sweep Rockets With 3-0 Victory Saturday At CN Centre

Saturday, February 05, 2011 10:34 PM

It was a perfect weekend on home ice for the Prince George Cougars, who swept the Kelowna Rockets with a 3-0 victory Saturday night at CN Centre.

The Cougars opened the weekend with a 4-2 win Friday and came into the game 4-2-0-0 in the second game of a doubleheader after taking the first contest. Ty Rimmer, who picked up the victory Friday, faced Rockets goalie Adam Brown and both were solid in the opening frame. The Cougars continued their amazing play when down two men, killing off a 51 second 5-on-3 Rockets power play. That makes the Cougars 22-for-23 when down two men this season. James Dobrowolski would break the ice with just over 42 seconds to play in the period, winning a face-off in the left face-off circle and pushing the puck between the legs of Shane McColgan. With the puck going towards the net, Dobrowolski poked the puck through Brown's legs for a 1-0 Cougars lead through 20 minutes of play. The shots were even at nine a side.

In the second period, the Cougars extended their lead with two quick goals. Taylor Stefishen banged home his 16th goal of the season on a partial wrap-around for a 2-0 Cougars lead at 5:39. Martin Marincin and Brett Connolly picked up helpers on the goal. 24 seconds later, Charles Inglis fed Sena Acolatse in front of the Rockets goal and with Brown challenging Acolatse, the 20-year old defencemen fed Bourke to his left, who ripped home his 14th goal of the season into the open cage, opening the Cougars lead to 3-0. That was the end of the night for Brown, who was replaced in goal by Jordon Cooke, who started Friday's game for Kelowna. Bourke and inglis both extended their point streaks to five games on the goal and the Cougars led 3-0 after 40 minutes. The Cougars out-shot the Rockets 15-7.

No scoring in the third and the only question left was Rimmer's perfect night, which he preserved, kicking out seven more shots in the third period for his third shut-out of the year. The Cougars had 17 shots on Cooke in the third and 41 shots in the game. Both teams could not score on the power play, with the Rockets 0-for-8 and the Cougars 0-for-7. The Cougars killed off all 24 Rockets power plays in the last three encounters. The Cougars improve their record to 26-23-2-1 for 55 points, five back of the Rockets for second in the BC division. Kelowna is now 30-22-0-0. The Cougars improve their home ice record to 16-10-1-1.

The Cougars now head on the road next week for five games in six nights, starting with the Edmonton Oil Kings on Tuesday. The Cougars will be in Medicine Hat Wednesday, Lethbridge Friday, Calgary Saturday and wrap things up in Red Deer next Sunday. The Cougars will return home for a four game home stand, starting with the Everett Silvertips February 18 and 19. Puck drop both nights is 7:00pm at CN Centre and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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