Charles Inglis was like a kid who had just won a trip to Disneyland.
His whoops and hollers of delight as he made his way to the Prince George Cougars dressing room are a sign of the times now in Cougarville. It's becoming a fun place to be again.
Inglis and the Cougars had plenty of cause to celebrate after spanking the Tri-City Americans 8-3 Saturday night at CN Centre. The 18-year-old centre had a three-point night with two goals and an assist in what rates as the Cats' biggest victory of the season so far.
The Americans are considered one of the elite teams in the WHL and the weekend series was a measuring stick to see how far Prince George has progressed. If Saturday's game was any indication, get used to seeing a lot more of the Cougars' post-game victory stick salutes. The Cats feel they can beat anybody in the league, and it's been a long time since that could be said.
On Friday, the Americans broke open a close game and cashed in almost every opportunity with five goals in the third period in a 7-3 win. In the rematch, it was obvious the Cougars had their mojo working for them. They blocked shots, deflected clearing passes in the offensive end, won just about every loose puck battle, and were rewarded with a 4-0 lead halfway through the first period.
"What was better in our game (Saturday) was we were more physical and our back end was way better than it was (Friday night)," said Inglis. "It's huge when you get skilled defencemen like Marty and Sena scoring goals. Everybody can put the puck in the net and it's good when you have that depth on the team.
"As long as I've got Chico (Cats trainer Ramandeep Dhanjal) on the bench cleaning my visor so I can see things out there, it's all good. Tonight was the most fun I've had in a long time."
Inglis, and defencemen Martin Marincin and Sena Acolatse each scored twice. Marincin, an 18-year-old native of Slovakia, collected his second of the night with a long wrist shot through a screen midway through the second period after Brett Connolly won the face-off in the Tri-City end. Marincin now has six goals and seven assists in 12 games with the Cougars.
Connolly's assist kept his point streak alive. While his goal streak ended at seven games, the Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick now has at least one point in all 13 games this season, totaling 13 goals and eight assists in that span.
Fifteen Cougars factored in the scoring Saturday. Scoring by committee always makes coaches happy, especially when it results in a win, and Dean Clark's Cougars are setting the pace in the WHL, averaging a league-high 4.6 goals per game.
"I like the fact we came back and had an answer after a poor third period (Friday)," said Clark. "Certainly our guys were way better as far as shooting the puck and getting pucks to the net and when you do that you get a chance to score.
"I thought even the (fourth) line with (Tyler) Thompson, (Jaroslav) Vlach and (Wilson) Dumais was very good. They were the ones who caused the first goal and played a strong game the whole way. We got good balance from everybody."
Nick Buonassisi continued to show confidence in his own playmaking abilities, feeding Troy Bourke with a nifty backhand pass in the slot that made it 3-0. Buonassisi, a third-year forward, increased his season point total to 14, third-highest on the team. Greg Fraser, with a third-period tip-in, had the other Cats' goal. Zachary Yuen, Patrick Holland and Mason Wilgosh replied for Tri-City.
James Priestner was stellar in net for the Cougars, making 29 saves. Drew Owsley started in net for Tri-City but gave up four goals on 12 shots and was replaced in the first period by 16-year-old rookie Chris Driedger, who made 25 saves.
"We're as good of a team as they are and after we figured out how they played we adjusted to it, we came out and dominated them," said Priestner.
The Cats' inability to clear their own zone on Friday cost them dearly.
"We learned from that in the video (Saturday morning) and just realized the D-men have to play defence," said Cats defenceman Daniel Gibb. "It was just a lot of D-men chipping pucks and we weren't trying to do it ourselves. Defencemen were playing defence and the forwards were doing the offence, and (the Americans) didn't know what to do. Priestner came up with big saves when we needed them."
About the only disappointing number from a Cougars' perspective was the attendance -- 1,908 in a building that seats nearly 6,000.
The Cougars (7-5-1-0) remained tied with Kamloops (7-6-0-1) for second in the B.C. Division, three points behind the first-place Vancouver Giants. The Americans (9-4-1-0) trail U.S. Division-leading Portland by two points.
KITTY LITTER: The game was stopped with 3:07 left in the second period when Cougars winger Jaroslav Vlach shattered the glass behind the Tri-City net with a high shot. Goal judge Wayne Ridsdale was caught in the line of fire and suffered a serious gash on his head which required a trip to hospital for treatment... The game turned a bit nasty at the end of the second period when Americans winger Jordan Messier shot the puck at Priestner after the buzzer had sounded. That touched off a mini-brawl that sent Vlach and Tri-City forward Max Moline to an early shower, each with game misconducts.
