Cats set for game of giving
Home team plans to flush out the fur early against Royals
Josh Maser isn’t worried about the Prince George Cougars getting skunked on their bear hunt Sunday afternoon at CN Centre. The Cougars have scored at least three goals in each of their last 10 games and Maser, a second-year left winger for the Cougars, says it’s not likely the Victoria Royals are going to hold them off the scoreboard. He and his teammates are going to do all they can in Sunday’s Teddy Bear Toss game to trigger that avalanche of stuffed toys, winter clothing and gift certificates the fans will have waiting to heave onto the ice as soon as the Cougars score.
“We haven’t had trouble with offence lately, I think we should be able to pot a few goals, that shouldn’t be problem for us,” said Maser.
Scoring was no issue Tuesday for the six-foot-two, 213-pound native of Houston. Maser collected two goals, his eighth and ninth of the season, in a 3-1 win over the Kootenay Ice. His shot from the slot on a perfect setup from behind the net from linemate Liam Ryan beat Ice goalie Duncan McGovern eight minutes into the third period – the first gamewinner of Maser’s WHL career. He also scored in the last minute into an empty net.
“There was a stretch there where I was struggling to put the puck in the net and I just kept telling myself, just keep forechecking and be physical and the offence will come, just take care of your own zone first,” said Maser, who went nine games without a goal until he ended the slump Dec. 1 in a 5-3 loss to Vancouver.
Taylor Gauthier was the story of Tuesday’s game. The 16-yearold Cougars rookie goalie made 40 saves for his fourth WHL win. He came within a missed poke check of a shutout Tuesday, almost getting to a loose puck dump-in before Ice sniper Peyton Krebs caught up to it and went wide around Gauthier to find the open net early in the second period.
“He played a heckuva game and he’s been playing great for us all season long, he’s a really reliable goalie back there,” said Maser. “He saved two breakaways in the first period and we kind of rallied on that and scored a couple goals for him.”
In Tuesday’s game, for the first time in 11 games, the Cougars penalty killers did not allow the other team to score and killed off a 5-on-3 disadvantage for nearly two minutes to start the third period. The Cats still rank second in the league in penalty killing, working at an 82.8 per cent success rate. The power play is 21st out of 22, an unproductive 14.56 per cent. The Royals are midpack with their special teams – 21.9 per cent on the power play (12th) and 76 per cent on the penalty kill (14th). One growing concern is the number of shorthanded goals the Cats have allowed the past few weeks – the Cougars and Royals have each allowed eight, tied for worst in the WHL.
Royals G Griffen Outhouse (3.02 goals-against average, .917 save percentage, 16-6-3-0 record) always seems to play well in Prince George. The 19-year-old from Likely (southwest of Quesnel) played major midget hockey in P.G. as a 16-year-old for the Cariboo Cougars.
Four Royals have been scoring at a point-per-game pace or better, including C Matthew Phillips (21-26-47, eighth in WHL scoring race), C Dante Hannoun (13-2437), Jared Legien (13-18-31) and Tyler Soy (11-20-31). The Royals have scored 128 goals (averaging 4.12 per game) and only Moose Jaw has scored more this season.
— see PHILLIPS, page 10