Ams pull away from Cougars
The Tri-City Americans pushed a winning streak to three games at the expense of the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday night at CN Centre.
The Americans defeated the Cougars 5-1 and improved their Western Hockey League record to 7-4-0-0. The Ams were coming off a pair of weekend victories against the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-2 on home ice on Friday and 3-2 in overtime in Seattle’s building on Saturday.
With Tuesday’s result, the Cougars saw their two-game win streak come to an end. Their overall record dropped to 5-6-0-1 but they remained in third place in the B.C. Division.
In the game, the Americans broke a 1-1 first-period tie with an unanswered goal in the middle frame by Brett Clayton. Parker AuCoin, with his seventh of the season, added to Tri-City’s lead early in the third period. Before the final buzzer sounded, Blake Stevenson and Riley Sawchuk also scored for the visitors.
In the opening 20 minutes, Will Kushniryk of the Americans and Josh Curtis of the Cougars exchanged goals. Curtis now has five so far this season.
Beck Warm was the winning goaltender and Taylor Gauthier took the loss. The Cougars outshot the Americans 36-28. Both teams went 0-for-4 on power plays.
The Cougars and Americans will meet again tonight at CN Centre. Opening faceoff is at 7.
• Former NHL defenceman Adam Foote has been named new head coach of the Kelowna Rockets. Foote, whose son Nolan is a third-year member of the Rockets and a current assistant captain, takes over a club that is in rebuilding mode. The Rockets sat at 4-10-0-0 heading into a Tuesday night home game against the Swift Current Broncos. Kelowna will host the 2020 Memorial Cup.
Foote played 1,158 regular-season NHL games for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets.