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CdnSailor
10-01-2011, 01:45 PM
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/cdnsailor/VictoriaRoyals.gif at http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/cdnsailor/PrinceGeorgeCougars.gif

Game two this evening. Not sure who will be in goal but with his outstanding SOGs I expect Hamilton to be playing.
Defence needs to pick it up a whole bunch of noches if they expect three wins in a row.

50sWHLer
10-01-2011, 06:41 PM
Hey Cdnsailor - We CAN do it!!! Yes, I too believe that Hamilton will Start --
--" If it ain't Broken, don't Fix it "

Yup, or 'D' needs to step it up, take the body, keep them on the outside, and cut down those SOG. Keep the testosterone in check & stay outta the Sin Bin too !

Absolutely NO REASON why this can't be 3 in a Row !! Great way to start the season !

GO ROYALS GO !!!

CdnSailor
10-01-2011, 07:49 PM
Hey Cdnsailor - We CAN do it!!! Yes, I too believe that Hamilton will Start --
--" If it ain't Broken, don't Fix it "

Yup, or 'D' needs to step it up, take the body, keep them on the outside, and cut down those SOG. Keep the testosterone in check & stay outta the Sin Bin too !

Absolutely NO REASON why this can't be 3 in a Row !! Great way to start the season !

GO ROYALS GO !!!

Guess they may be breaking it. Even the commentators are shocked that he is not playing. Hamilton is not even dressed this evening. :eek:

CdnSailor
10-01-2011, 08:52 PM
Amazing 1st period.
2/3 give a 4-0 lead.
Only 1 penalty so far for the Royals.

Lets keep up this great pace..............:clap:

CdnSailor
10-01-2011, 09:50 PM
Two periods gone and holding a 6-2 lead. Would be nice to keep the pace for another win.
Jamie Crooks gets a hat trick giving Victoria another 1st of the season. :clap:

Unfortunately we play Kamloops tomorrow and they have a night off. Will be very difficult to play a fresh team coming off of 2 games in a row.
The league need to look at this as it is not fair to the players.
We do the same next week playing two games at home and then off to Vancouver for another one.

CdnSailor
10-01-2011, 10:47 PM
6-5 Final

Great comeback from PG but the Royals prevailed. :clap: :clap:

3 stars
1. VIC - 15 Jamie Crooks
2. VIC - 2 Hayden Rintoul
3. P.G - 20 Troy Bourke

Attendance: 2096
pretty crappy to say the least especially with this being their 2nd game of the season at home.

Game Summary
http://whl.ca/schedule/show/game/60220

wombats
10-01-2011, 11:05 PM
Attendance was down for a couple of reasons. There was a big hockey banquet tonight with Ryan Walter and Jennifer Botterill among the attendees. That fundraiser probably took out a number of fans who would have been at the game.

This game is one of the reasons I love Junior Hockey. No lead is ever safe, and the Cougars just about did complete the comeback.

I am sure most Royal fans are concerned about Tyler Stahl. It was a nasty hit. It was a flying elbow to the head, and Stahl wasnt putting any weight on his legs as he was helped off the ice. I would suggest they were pretty much carrying him.

If the league is serious about head shots, and this was a hit to the head Inglis will get at least 5 games. I would suggest 10 is where it should be if the league is serious. It was a vicious hit, there was nothing accidental about it.

Owsley had two bad games this weekend. By all accounts he stood on his head last weekend in Kamloops, this weekend he fell on his face. He needs to be much better if the Cougars are going to do anything this season.

The game was chippy, and after the Inglis hit it got worse. Fortunately it did not get out of control. I can see a lot of second chippy games this season for the Cougars based on most teams when they come up here to Prince George play a pair of games in back to back nights.

As for 3 in 3. I come from the OHL where 3 in 3 is very common, and in fact the Ottawa 67s quite often have to do 4 in 4 when they go West. Its a weekend league and as such you cant get away from 3 in 3. Is it fair? Well, if it is happening to all teams at some point in the season, then yes it is.

CdnSailor
10-01-2011, 11:47 PM
PRINCE GEORGE — It was unfortunate for the Prince George Cougars there was only a sparse crowd to watch Saturday night’s Western Hockey League game against the visiting Victoria Royals.

The indifferent fan base missed a good game as a furious Cougars rally in the third period fell just short as Victoria held on for a 6-5 victory.

The Royals (3-1) led wire-to-wire in defeating the Cougars (1-1-1) at the generally quiet 6,000-seat CN Centre. The place was devoid of atmosphere until the rally brought the Cougars back into the contest. The crowd was announced as 2,096 but the actual number of people in the building was nowhere near that figure.

Victoria may have suffered a costly loss when

19-year-old defenceman and sixth-round Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Tyler Stahl had to be helped off the ice in the third period after taking a shot to the head from Charles Inglis of the Cougars. Inglis received a five-minute major, was booted from the game and is probably looking at a multi-game suspension.

“That hit put everyone [off their game],” said Victoria head coach and GM Marc Habscheid.

“This is a close-knit group and when you see one of your teammates hit like that, it sets you back on your heels a bit.”

Habscheid said Stahl is feeling “not great.”

No further information was available on his condition.

“It’s one of those hits we want to take out of the game,” said Habscheid.

“It’s going to the league and the league will deal with it.”

The Royals swept the back-to-back set here and won for the third consecutive game overall.

This was supposed to be the season for the veteran-laden Cougars. But despite the late near-heroics, it’s clear that 19-year-old star forward and Port McNeill-raised Brett Connolly can’t come back quickly enough from the Tampa Bay Lightning, who took him sixth overall in the 2010 NHL draft.

Braden Gamble (1-1) made 25 saves in goal for Victoria. In a nice touch,

17-year-old Prince George-native Jared Rathjen dressed as backup. Keith Hamilton (2-0) got the night off ahead of today’s game against the Blazers in Kamloops.

Jamie Crooks’ hat-trick spotted Victoria a 5-0 lead before the Cougars finally got on the scoreboard through Troy Bourke’s short-handed counter at 6:31 of the second period followed by a power-play at 11:04 by Inglis. The slick Victoria forward Kevin Sundher made it 6-2 before goals by Nick Bouonassisi, Nanaimo native Greg Fraser, on the power play, and Jake Mykitiuk brought Prince George to within one.

Power-play goals by strapping rookie defenceman Kade Pilton and captain Hayden Rintoul contributed to Victoria’s quick start in a first period that ended with the visitors leading 4-0.

“It might be a good thing [surviving the comeback] and I hope we learn from this,” said Crooks.

ICE CHIPS: Royals assistant coach Ben Cooper, a rugby player for St. George’s and Toronto Balmy Beach, was keeping tabs on the Canada-New Zealand World Cup game

. . . Kathy and Ian Fraser from Nanaimo were on hand to watch their son, Cougars forward Greg. The Cougs have two Island players — Fraser and defenceman Cody Carlson of Victoria.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Royals+sweep+Cougars/5489822/story.html#ixzz1ZbIWg27Y

CdnSailor
10-02-2011, 12:32 AM
ROYALS TAKE TWO STRAIGHT FROM COUGARS

Jamie Crooks records hat trick in Victoria’s 6-5 win over Prince George.

For Immediate Release

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Prince George, BC – In a Saturday night matchup at the CN Centre the Victoria Royals took on the Prince George Cougars in the second of a two game set. The Royals came into the game looking for their third consecutive win. Victoria gave Braden Gamble the start in net, while Prince George countered with Drew Owsley.

The Royals got off to quick start after they received an early power play opportunity. On the man advantage defenceman Kade Pilton collected the puck on the left point and unleashed a slap shot that sailed past the right pad of Owsley at 47 seconds. The marker was Pilton’s first of the season. After a successful penalty kill the Royals went right back on the attack. Steven Hodges found Jamie Crooks in the high slot who burst in on the net. Crooks made a nice deke to his back hand and slid the puck between the legs of Owsley at 8:26. The goal was Crooks’ second of the year. Victoria increased their lead 57 seconds later on the power play after Hayden Rintoul put a wrist shot through traffic from the left point that beat Owsley for his first of the campaign. After the goal Owsley was replaced by Devon Fordyce. Victoria continued to hold all the momentum as the Cougars remained pinned in their own end. Crooks notched his second of the night at 16:31 after he collected a loose puck in the slot and put it past an out of position Fordyce. Victoria took 4-0 lead into the first intermission after they outshot the Cougars 13-9.

Prince George got an early power play after Robin Soudek took a cross-checking penalty. The Royals’ penalty killers continued their strong play as they successfully killed it off. Victoria capitalized on the momentum after Logan Nelson found Crooks in front of the net at 4:44. The Royals’ forward deked to his backhand and roofed the puck over the glove of the Cougars’’ netminder for his third on the night. Prince George notched their first of the night shorthanded after Troy Bourke received the puck in the slot from Spencer Asuchak. Bourke took a quick spin and backhanded the puck past the glove of Gamble at 6:31. The goal sparked Prince George as they gained some momentum. At 11:04 the Cougars cut the lead to three after Charles Inglis one timed the puck from the left half boards past Gamble on the power play. The teams exchanged several opportunities for the next couple minutes until Kevin Sundher buried the Royals’ sixth at 17:38. Brandon Magee circled the net and found Sundher in the slot who wrapped the puck around the outstretched leg of Fordyce for his second of the season. Victoria took a 6-2 lead into the third period.

In the opening minutes of the final frame the Royals’ Tyler Stahl was knocked out of the game after receiving an elbow to the head by Cougars’ forward Charles Inglis. Victoria received a 5-minute power play after a checking to the head penalty was assessed to Inglis. Tempers flared shortly after when Crooks squared off with Auschak. Prince George notched their third of the night at 12:01 after Nick Buonassisi skated down the left side towards the net and wristed the puck pack Gamble for his first of the season. Just over two minutes later at 14:39 the Cougars cut the lead to two after Greg Fraser collected a rebound off the back boards and put it past the outstretched Victoria goaltender on the power play. At 15:50 Prince George pulled to within one when Jake Mykituk received the puck in the slot and backhanded it through the legs of Gamble. With less than two minutes the Cougars pulled Fordyce for the extra attacker, but could not find the tying marker. Royals 6 Cougars 5.

Victoria went 2/6 = 33.3% on the power play, while Prince George was 2/7 = 28.5%. The Cougars outshot the Royals 30-29.

Victoria will now travel to Kamloops where they will play the Blazers at the Interior Savings Centre tomorrow Sunday, October 1. Game time is at 6:00 p.m. The Royals next home games are October 6th and 7th when the Medicine Hat Tigers come to the island. For further details or to purchase your tickets today, visit the Victoria Royals Ticket Office, www.selectyourtickets.com/victoriaroyals , e-mail vrtickets@victoriaroyals.com or call 250-220-7889.

CdnSailor
10-02-2011, 10:26 AM
Inglis faces suspension for third-period hit

Ted CLARKE
Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

The Prince George Cougars must have forgot home games start at 7 p.m.

They were there in body for the opening face-off Saturday but their minds to complete the task at hand -- a rematch with the Victoria Royals -- somehow got lost between the dressing room and the ice at CN Centre.

By the time their actions got back in sync with their thoughts, the Cougars had dug themselves a hole too deep. Facing a four-goal deficit with only eight minutes left, they strung together three unanswered goals to make for a suspenseful finish, but couldn't complete the comeback, falling 6-5 to the Royals in front of 2,096 spectators.

Jamie Crooks fired a hat trick to carry the Royals (3-1-0-0) to their third win in four games to move into first place in the B.C. Division, three points ahead of the Cougars (1-1-0-1).

"That was pretty embarrassing to play like that, to be honest," said Cougars forward Greg Fraser. "We kind of sat back in the first period and thought it was going to bit of an easier game. We kind of got our feet under us in the second period and in the third period got back to what we were doing [Saturday], which worked. If we play 60 minutes like we did in the last period we're going to win a lot of games this season."

Play like they did in the first period Saturday, and they're probably going to lose a lot of the 69 games they have left this season. The Cougars were a disorganized mess in the opening 20 minutes, fumbling passes and getting caught out of position. To make matters worse, they didn't get a lot of help from their goaltender, not that they gave Drew Owsley much support. Conversely, the Royals looked like superstars, moving the puck with tape-to-tape precision and generating numerous quality scoring chances.

Shots were 30-29 in favour of the Cougars.

Kade Pilton, Hayden Rintoul and Kevin Sundher also scored for Victoria. Fraser, Charles Inglis, Troy Bourke, Nick Buonassisi and Jake Myktiuk where the Cougar goalscorers.

Inglis was given a match penalty for an elbow in the face of Royals defenceman Tyler Stahl, 3:46 into the third period, and faces a lengthy suspension in the wake of the WHL's crackdown this season on head hits.

The Cougars hit the road Sunday to begin a two-week, seven-game tour of the WHL's East Division, which starts Tuesday in Prince Albert

CdnSailor
10-02-2011, 10:42 AM
WHL Video Highlights

http://whl.ca/video/index/id/1317572736

pontcanna
10-02-2011, 11:03 AM
A hockey fan’s divided loyalties

Sacrifices are part of the deal when moving to a new city, even when moving to Victoria from Prince George.

For starters, moving to southern Vancouver Island from the Interior means saying goodbye to affordable housing, four distinct seasons and the eightminute commute. In reality, however, there wasn’t much that Prince George had that Victoria was missing when I moved here almost two years ago.

Major junior hockey was the glaring exception.

Prince George instantly fell in love with the Cougars when owner Rick Brodsky relocated the team and the beloved name to central B.C. in the summer of 1994.

The first season was played in the old, 2,000-seat Coliseum, but what drew Brodsky north was a 6,000seat arena under construction across town.

The city’s legions of hockey fans craved WHL hockey and routinely filled the new rink for the first seven or eight years, giving not a thought to the people of Victoria or that they were understandably bitter that what was once theirs was taken away.

I was a Cougars season ticket holder in Prince George from 1994 until 2009.
What did Victoria fans miss in those years? There were a few high points, such as when the Cougars came close to winning something semi-important, but there were no firstplace finishes and certainly no trips to the Memorial Cup.

Much like their final few years in Victoria, the Cougars’ existence in Prince George has been mostly a mix of unfulfilled expectations and downright futility.

Much has been made of Victorians supposedly holding a grudge against Prince George for “stealing” the Cougars. Truth be told, there were many times in the past decade when Prince George fans would have gladly given them back.

Aside from a few exciting playoff runs that fell short, the highlight for Cougars fans in P.G. has been watching the development of future NHL stars such as the Canucks’ Dan Hamhuis, Boston’s Zdeno Chara, Tampa Bay’s Eric Brewer and Canucks nemesis Dustin Byfuglien, now with Winnipeg.

That’s the beauty of major junior hockey. The players arrive as wideeyed 16-year-olds, away from home for the first time, and leave at 19 or 20 as men — some with an NHL contract in their back pocket and the promise of stardom on hockey’s biggest stage.
You don’t get that with the ECHL.

The WHL is hockey at its purest — a bus league full of hungry young men playing for each other and an opportunity to someday graduate to the NHL.
It’s great for hockey in Victoria if fans are still harbouring that grudge against Prince George, because there is nothing like a bitter rivalry to stir up emotions in a junior hockey rink.

As for me, I’ll have torn allegiances on a few nights now that the WHL is back in Victoria where it belongs. Seventeen years of loyalty to the Cougars doesn’t disappear overnight.

But this is my town now and I have a new batch of junior hockey stars to follow. Long live the Cougars. Long live the Royals.

Dave Paulson is the Times Colonist’s features editor.

pontcanna
10-02-2011, 11:05 AM
WHL Video Highlights
http://whl.ca/video/index/id/1317572736

Based on highlights, I guess the Cougars beat us both nights.

CdnSailor
10-02-2011, 12:45 PM
Based on highlights, I guess the Cougars beat us both nights.

LOL :D

pontcanna
10-04-2011, 11:57 AM
Inglis got 10 games for the head shot/concussion on Stahl.

CdnSailor
10-04-2011, 12:52 PM
Inglis got 10 games for the head shot/concussion on Stahl.
:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

wombats
10-04-2011, 03:33 PM
Inglis got 10 games for the head shot/concussion on Stahl.

The number I stated that it should be. It was an ugly, vicious hit. It is also nothing to "cheer" about. If Stahl does not make a full recovery 10 games is not enough.

I wish Tyler the best, and hope to see him back on skates next time the Royals are in Prince George

pontcanna
10-04-2011, 11:56 PM
Hit to head costs Cougars forward 10 games

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM OCTOBER 4, 2011 10:27 PM

Prince George Cougars forward Charles Inglis was suspended Tuesday for 10 games by the Western Hockey League for his elbow to the head of Victoria Royals defenceman Tyler Stahl in a game last Saturday at CN Centre.

Stahl suffered a concussion in the incident that occurred in the third period in the corner of the Royals’ end. The 2010 sixth-round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes lay on the ice for minutes and had to be helped off by teammates.

“We’ve stated from the outset of the season that we will do everything we can to reduce the number of head injuries,” said WHL commissioner Ron Robison by phone from Calgary. “If any injury occurs from a hit to the head, then a significant suspension will be the result.”

Inglis received a five-minute hit-to-the-head major and a match penalty Saturday. The suspension takes place immediately with Inglis due to return Oct. 26 when the Cougars are in Kelowna. The undrafted 19-year-old from Winnipeg is a key player for the Cougars and has three goals and four points in three games this season, after scoring 32 goals and adding 28 assists last season.

“It was a vicious hit, no doubt about it,” said Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid. “We’re trying to take that sort of hit out of the game.”

When asked about Stahl’s condition, Habscheid responded: “He’s not great.”

It is a major loss to the Royals because the 19-year-old is a leader on the blue-line. The team would provide no further details nor give an estimate of how long Stahl is expected to be out of action. Hockey teams normally do not release medical details about concussed players.

“There’s no timeline you can put on a concussion,” Habscheid said. “Who thought Sidney Crosby would be out this long? About the only thing you can say is that when Tyler is cleared to play by the doctors, then he can come back.”

Asked if he thought the suspension matched the act, Habscheid said: “That’s not for me to say. But [the league] has always done a good job of dealing out suspensions.”

It is the second suspension dished out early this season by the WHL for a hit to the head. Moose Jaw forward Cody Beach was suspended seven games for a blow to the head of Brandon forward Bruno Mraz during the league’s season opener Sept. 22.`