Ten and counting.
The Prince George Cougars lost their 10th consecutive Western Hockey League game Tuesday night at CN Centre. The Cats allowed five first-period goals to the Medicine Hat Tigers and were eventually the victims of a 9-3 thrashing.
The Tigers, one of the elite clubs in the Eastern Conference, were clearly superior to the Cougars when it came to finishing around the net so there's no real reason to think the outcome of tonight's rematch will be any different. The Cats and Tigers will meet again at 7 p.m.
Tuesday's game, for all intents and purposes, was a done deal after 20 minutes. The Tigers, under the tutelage of national junior team coach Willie Desjardins, demonstrated such slick passing in the offensive zone that four of their five goals in the first frame were into open sides of nets. The fifth Medicine Hat marker in the period was an example of just how snakebitten the Cats have been this entire season. On the play, Kale Kessy wired a shot off the mask of Cougars starter Kyle Jahraus and the puck ended up on the stick of Bretton Cameron, who was left with a tap-in. To make things worse, the goal came with just two seconds left on the clock.
The other Medicine Hat goalscorers in the first were Wacey Hamilton, Linden Vey, Matt MacKay and Cole Grbavac. In general, the Cougars were guilty of admiring too many of the pretty plays instead of knocking their opponents on their backsides.
At the start of the second period, the previously-injured Hudson Stremmel replaced Jahraus in goal. Stremmel had been experiencing concussion-like symptoms for weeks and wasn't given much time to clear his head after he entered the game. Teammate Alex Rodgers did strike for a goal at the 8:10 mark but, at 10:52, Vey was permitted to bust in front of the Prince George net while the Tigers were shorthanded and he went to his backhand to beat Stremmel. The teams then traded goals, Brock Hirsche converting for the Cats and Zdenek Okal pulling the trigger for the visitors.
The Cougars spent most of the third period killing penalties and couldn't get much rolling. With fewer than three minutes left, Rodgers finally gave the sparse crowd of 1,663 a rare reason to cheer when he drove hard to the net and scored while the Cats were two men short. The Tigers quickly snuffed out that moment of happiness by converting twice on their power play. Hamilton connected for his second of the night and Vey notched his third to complete the carnage.
Looking for good news in Cougarville? Try this -- world-class winger and local product Brett Connolly skated on Monday. He was back on his blades for the first time since Dec. 5 in Kamloops. Injuries to both sets of hip muscles have limited him to just 12 games this season and the Cougars, obviously, have missed him dearly.
Connolly, who has 13 points in his 12 outings, took things easy in his re-introduction to the playing surface and will clearly need some time to get himself back into proper game condition. The 17-year-old Connolly is in his draft year, and despite his health woes this season, is rated as the top WHL skater by NHL Central Scouting.
The Cougars are now a painful 9-38-1-1 on the season. The Tigers moved to 30-15-3-5 and remained in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They are chasing the third-place Brandon Wheat Kings, who beat the Kootenay Ice 6-5 in overtime on Tuesday night.
Following tonight's game, the Cougars will hit the highway for contests against the Kelowna Rockets (Friday) and Vancouver Giants (Saturday).
