Nobody would ever confuse a hockey puck with a vegetable.
But with first place in the WHL's B.C. Division on the line, there were times that piece of rubber resembled a hot potato.
The Vancouver Giants and Prince George Cougars took turns juggling the biscuit until the Cougars finally exited the CN Centre ice Saturday with a 7-5 win.
James Dobrowolski took advantage of a third-period penalty and nailed the gamewinner with 10:33 gone in the third period, wrapping in a wayward puck after Taylor Stefishen misfired a one-time. Seconds earlier, Dobrowolski, Stefishen and linemate Brett Connolly put the rush on Giants forward Spencer Bennett, who sent to the box for clearing the puck over the glass.
In typical Vancouver style, the Giants didn't quit and on a horrendous night for goaltenders that kept the bullpens busy on both sides, James Priestner stood tall in his relief effort, stopping all 20 pucks directed his way to lock up the win. Brock Hirsche ended the suspense with an empty-net goal.
"It was pretty up and down -- each team had a push and luckily we had the last one," said Dobrowolski. "We let our defensive game go a bit and that's something we really have to work on, especially in a divisional game like this."
Going into the game, the Cougars' record this season in games in which they've allowed four or more goals was a scary 1-13-1-1. Cougars head coach Dean Clark was reaching for the Grecien formula at the bench with 10:28 left in the second period after the Giants had rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie it 5-5.
"It wasn't the best-played game and the goalies were letting them in on both sides, but give credit to our guys, we stuck with it and played a real solid third period," said Clark. "They had a couple chances, but James was there to keep it close."
The win moved the Cougars (21-16-2-1) two points ahead of the Giants (19-18-1-4), who dropped into third place, one notch below the Kelowna Rockets, who smoked Kamloops 8-1 on Saturday.
"Good teams find ways to win and we had to show bit a little character to battle back in the third and we did that," said Cougars defenceman Cody Carlson. "Vancouver's a hard-working team and they never quit, but if we play our game for a full 60, we have the guys in the room to do the job and give ourselves a chance to win every night."
Prince George shooters got to goalie Mark Segal early. Segal, who played so well in the Giants' 4-3 win over the Cats Friday night, gave up four goals on eight shots and lost his spot in the crease too Mark Jensen to start the second period.
Down 4-2, the Giants kept coming in waves, forcing their opponents into fur-ball cough-ups that ended up in the back of the net. Bennett went wide on Cougars starting goalie Ty Rimmer to draw the Giants to within a goal, a scoring move countered by Connolly's second of the game, a rebound swat into a gaping net.
Two of three-member Vancouver Burns unit -- Nathan and Teal -- found ways to beat Rimmer to knot the score. Nathan Burns got to a loose puck in the crease before Jesse Forsberg could clear it at the tail end of a two-man Giants power play, and Teal Burns finished off a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance two minutes later to knot the score, ending Rimmer's night early. That brought Priestner into the game and the Giants didn't go easy on him either, as they went on to outshoot the Cats 42-28.
Giants winger Michael Burns also scored in a wild six-goal first period that started with Connolly's 24th of the season, 22 seconds into the game. Cougars Taylor Makin, Spencer Asuchak and Dobrowolski, as well as Giants captain Brendan Gallagher, also scored in the opening period.
"We got off to a bad start and got down two goals but we battled back and came back but just couldn't squeak it out at the end," said Gallagher, whose 26 goals leads the Giants. "When they got the sixth goal we just had no push left in us and some of that's due to the slow start we had."
KITTY LITTER: The Cougars went 6-2 on their homestand and will face the Giants again Tuesday in Vancouver. The Cougars' next 11 games are against B.C. Division teams. Their record against divisional opponents stands at 9-8-1-0. The Cats play Wednesday in Chilliwack, then return home for a weekend series against the P.G. boys Brandon Manning, Ryan Howse and the rest of the Bruins.
