photo courtesy of Brett Cullen Photography

By Ethan Ready

Cougars go sweeping

Cougars sweep weekend series against Blazers

Nov 24, 2019 | 8:06 AM

PRINCE GEORGE – For the first time this season, the Prince George Cougars broke out the brooms on Saturday, as they swept their weekend doubleheader against the Kamloops Blazers with a 5-3 win at the CN Centre.

Their performance marked the first time this season that the Cats tallied five goals in a single game.

Tyson Upper, Josh Maser, Vladislav Mikhalchuk, Mitch Kohner, and Josh Maser scored for Prince George, who was coming off a 4-3 Friday over Kamloops. The star of the game was Taylor Gauthier, who turned in another first-star performance, stopping 48 of 51 shots. He stopped 89 of 95 shots on the weekend.

Upper opened the scoring two-minutes into the first period and Maser scored in the back half of the opening frame, as the Cougars led 2-1 after 20-minutes. Upper tipped in Kohner’s shot at 2:18 for his first goal in 15 games. Just 17-seconds after the Blazers tied it on the power-play, Maser darted down left-wing and scored from the face-off circle to put Prince George back ahead 2-1; Maser finished with a goal and an assist.

The Blazers did tie it midway through the second period, after Ryley Appelt cashed in on a rebound in front of the Cougars’ net at 9:02. However, the Cougars had an answer for that goal too.

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Four minutes after Kamloops tied it 2-2, it was Mikhalchuk picking up his first of the season at 13:54. Ryan Schoettler wrapped the puck around the boards and Mikhalchuk quickly fired a shot from the right-wing that surprised Dylan Garand and got through his pads.

It was 3-2 for the Cougars after 40-minutes and it stayed that way until nearly seven minutes into the third frame. Connor Zary brought the Blazers back level, scoring on the power-play at 6:52. Zary found space between the post and Gauthier from the bottom of the face-off circle.

Like they did in the second, Prince George wasted little time generating a response in the third. 62-seconds after the Blazers scored, Mitch Kohner put the Cougars back on top.

Ethan Browne sealed the win with two and a half minutes left. Browne stripped the puck from Zane Franklin at the Kamloops’ blue-line and broke in all alone. He was initially stopped but managed to convert on his own rebound.

The Cougars (6-16-0-2) head out on the road next Saturday, November 30^th, against the Kelowna Rockets at Prospera Place.