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Sput
03-15-2007, 07:48 PM
from: www.princegeorgecitizen.com

Thursday, March 15, 2007
Cougars beat CHL’s best team
by JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor

All you needed to know about this game was available on the pre-game list of non-playing players.

The list of healthy scratches for the Prince George Cougars included Devin Setoguchi, Jesse Dudas, Ty Wishart and Kyle Klym.

For the Everett Silvetips, the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League and this year’s regular season champions in the WHL, the no-go players included Peter Mueller, Taylor Ellington, Dane Crowley, Jonathan Harty, Moises Gutierrez, Brennan Sonne and import Ondrej Fiala, who last week stunned the Silvertips by announcing he was going home to the Czech Republic for knee surgery.

In baseball’s spring training, Wednesday’s contest might have been called a ‘B’ game. Regardless of the circumstances, the Cougars improved to 33-29-3-5 with a 3-1 victory.

“It was a nice game for us, even with all the guys that sat out for both teams,” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck.

“They didn’t have Mueller and Gutierrez, but we didn’t have Wishart or Setoguchi. It’s a tough building to come in and get a win, and I thought our guys came in and played a solid 60 minutes. Everett is a team that doesn’t give up a whole lot. They got fortunate on their goal, but we never quit and were able to seal it with an empty-netter.”

It was just the fourth home loss of the season for Everett (53-14-1-2), and the first time all season the Silvertips have lost two games in a row.

Jared Walker opened the scoring for the Cougars in the first period with his 27th of the season.

Greg Gardner made it 2-0 with just 23 ticks gone in the second, tallying for a career-high 16th time this season.

Kyle Beach scored the lone Everett goal, but Cougars sophomore Dana Tyrell found the empty net for his 30th of the season, becoming just the second Prince George player to hit that plateau as a 17-year-old. Blair Betts did it in the 1997-98 season.

“Dana has worked his tail off and deserved to get his 30th,” said Schoneck.

“He’s a player who does the little things it takes to score goals, and he’s being rewarded. I think he’ll also be rewarded with a high draft pick this summer. Dana’s been on the radar for a long time and scouts are taking notice more and more. From what we here, he’s moving up all the time and where he finally settles is up to him.”

Nick Drazenovic remains three assists back of the franchise mark of 140 held by Blake Robson.

The two teams did start their No. 1 goaltenders, with Scott Bowles going for the Cougars and Leland Irving tending mesh for the Silvertips. Bowles finished with 15 saves, and Irving, a first-round draft choice of the Calgary Flames, stopped 20 shots.

The Cougars have two more road games remaining in the regular season. On Friday, the Cats will visit the Vancouver Giants, then on Saturday will close the 72-game schedule with a stop in Kelowna.

The Cougars are guaranteed to finish third in the B.C. Division and a first-round playoff series against the Kamloops Blazers, the second-ever meeting between the rival franchises, starts March 23-24 at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops. Games 3 and 4 will go Tuesday, March 27, and Wednesday, March 28, at CN Centre. Playoff packages are available to season ticket holders until today, with single-game tickets for sale to the general public on Friday.

n Dudas and Klym are not on the road trip, and Schoneck said both had the flu and they didn’t want them to infect the rest of the team on the long trip across the border.

n The expansion Chilliwack Bruins clinched the final B.C. Division playoff berth with a 5-3 victory over the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday. That means the Rockets will miss the playoffs for the first time — as either Kelowna or Tacoma representatives — since the franchise debuted in 1991.

Sput
03-15-2007, 07:49 PM
Game report from: www.whl.ca

Prince George Cougars 3 at Everett Silvertips 1 - Status: Final
Mar 14, 2007 - Everett Event Center
1st Period
Scoring - 1. Prince George, J. Walker (27) (C. Durand, D. Hunt) 7:55 PP
Penalties - C. Hohmann P.g (interference) 4:51, M. Alexander Evt (hooking) 6:24, T. Hlookoff Evt (hooking) 6:42, J. Burt Evt (interference) 10:09, R. Rapac P.g (high sticking) 14:28

2nd Period
Scoring - 2. Prince George, G. Gardner (16) (D. Tyrell, E. Hunter) 0:23
Penalties - C. Patterson P.g (interference) 2:01, J. Zetariuk Evt (hooking) 2:59, K. Sagert P.g (hooking) 4:37, K. Tochkin Evt (tripping) 9:34, T. Eskesen Evt (cross checking) 13:25

3rd Period
Scoring - 3. Everett, K. Beach (29) (D. Gendur, T. Hlookoff) 11:07
4. Prince George, D. Tyrell (30) (G. Gardner) 18:40 EN
Penalties - L. Redden P.g (holding) 5:01, V. Mihalik P.g (hooking) 5:25, Z. Hamill Evt (checking from behind) 11:35

P.G Shots: 5 7 11 TOTAL: 23
EVT Shots: 5 5 6 TOTAL: 16

Power Play Conversion
Prince George Cougars 1-7. Everett Silvertips 0-6.

Goaltenders
Prince George Cougars
Bowles 12-8-1-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 15 GA: 1 [W]


Everett Silvertips
Irving 33-9-1-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:50 SV: 20 GA: 2 [L]



Start : 7:06 PM
End : 9:12 PM
Attendance : 6188
Referee I: Andy Thiessen (11)
Referee II: Cory McLean (7)
LINESMAN I: Trevor Boudreau (66)
LINESMAN II: Justin Hull (49)

Sput
03-15-2007, 08:05 PM
Over all it sounded like a good game by both sides, even concidering who the healthy scratches were. For the Cougars: Wishart, Setoguchi, Dudas, and Klym. For Everett:Mueller, Gutierrez, Crowley, Harty, Ellington, Sonne.

Good action, everyone was put into situations they normally aren't in, such as PP and PK time for some third/fourth line guys. Just the coaches trying to get everyone going and setting them up for their playoff runs.

I missed the Cats first goal (watching Red Deer/Calgary on Sportsnet), but did catch the rest of the game. Gardner scored so fast in the second the PG play-by-play wasn't even on air yet.

Tips goal sounded like an advantagous bounce back to Beech.

Tyrell put the finishing touches on things with his emty netter to give him 30 on the season, tieing Blair Betts for top scoring 17 year old. Good job Dana.

Tomorrow will be a tougher test, no doubt, against Vancouver, then the season closer against Kelowna. The Rockets are going to be a good to great team here in a year or two with the young squad they have, and the work ethic they put on the ice.

Good luck down the stretch boys. Keep the momentum through the time off and take it to Kamloops!! nhl3