It doesn't matter how you score 'em, as long as the puck crosses the line.
Years from now, Cal Babych can tell his kids he beat his former Calgary Hitmen teammates for the winning goal with a five-player dangle, capped by a roof shot into the net.
It wasn't like that at all.
With the Hitmen tied 2-2 with the Prince George Cougars and the third period just seconds old, Babych got the puck at centre and just tried to advance it into the offensive zone with a draw to the button. Hitmen goalie Mack Shields saw the Cougar forwards coming and tried to shovel the puck out of the danger zone into the corner. But he whiffed on it, and it slid through his legs and into the net for what stood up as a most bizarre gamewinner.
Babych, acquired early in the season in a trade from Calgary, has five goals in 43 games this season but none of the other four come close to the value of Wednesday's blooper. He also contributed an assist.
The win was the sixth in the past seven games for the Cougars (27-33-2-2) as they knocked off the top team in the WHL's Central Division. The loss dropped the Hitmen record to 40-20-1-4, who lost for only the third time in their past 20 games.
Ty Edmonds made 34 saves, stopping all 13 he faced in the third period as the game's first star.
The Hitmen took advantage of their second power play of the game and Vancouver Canucks first-rounder Jake Virtanen popped in his 20th of the season on a rebound after Edmonds blocked Connor Rankin's initial shot. That came 16:18 into the first period.
Jansen Harkins got the Cougars back on even terms with his 20th goal early in the second period, finishing with a beautiful deke that caught Shields leaning the wrong way.
Aaron Macklin put the Cougars up 2-1 with his fifth of the season, fed in front by Babych, who dug the puck off the end boards. All of a sudden, the Cougars had two goals and a lead on just 10 shots.
But it didn't last long. Two minutes later, with the Hitmen on a penalty kill, Zach Pochiro got caught pinching and that led to a 2-on-1 break. Radel Fasleev, a 17-year-old Russian import took the puck in deep and fired a perfect wrist shot that went off the post in behind Edmonds with 9:15 gone in the second.
Harkins remained one assist shy of Quinn Hancock's team record of 58. Hancock set the Prince George benchmarks for assists (58), goals (54) and points (112) in 1997-98.
The Cougars are in a four-team dogfight for a playoff position and only two of those teams can make it into the postseason. Prince George remains third in the B.C. Division with 58 points, three points ahead of the Vancouver Giants, who lost 3-0 to the Tri-City Americans Wednesday in Kennewick, Wash. Like the Cougars, the Giants have eight games left in the regular season.
The Kamloops Blazers, who lost in overtime to Calgary Tuesday night in Kamloops, are fifth in the B.C. Division and have 55 points. Kamloops has eight games left, including four against Prince George.
Tri-City started the day Wednesday in fifth place in the U.S. Division and remained seventh overall in the Western Conference. The Spokane Chiefs, with 66 points, are fourth in the U.S. Division and sixth overall in the West and with 10 games remaining are close to locking up one of the wild card positions.
Under the new WHL playoff format, the top three teams in each division will be the first six playoff qualifiers and the remaining two spots will be filled by wild card qualifiers based on their regular season point totals regardless of which division they represent.
LOOSE PUCKS: Shots were 36-28 in Calgary's favour... The start of the game was delayed nearly half an hour due to ice issues caused by the scraping blade of the Zamboni... The Cougars host the Victoria Royals Friday and Saturday at CN Centre. The Royals have already locked up second place in the B.C. Division... Defenceman Josh Connolly and Pochiro were selected as the Ryobi hardest-working Cougars for the month of February. The Cougars went 6-2-1-1 in February... The Hitmen are nearing the end of a franchise-tying 11-game, 18-day roadtrip after vacating their home rink in Calgary to make way for the Tim Horton's Brier men's curling championship. They started the trip winning six of seven games.
