ROYALS STUNNED BY COUGARS - Junior Hockey News

Prince George, BC - In a Friday night contest at the CN Centre, the Victoria Royals squared off against the Prince George Cougars in the first game of a weekend doubleheader.  The Royals gave Coleman Vollrath the start in goal, while the Cougars responded with Mac Engel.
 
The Cougars opened the scoring on a goal by Chase Witala at 3:39 of the opening frame. After he gained possession of the puck in the neutral zone, Witala skated down the left wing and released a slap shot high over the glove of the Royals' netminder. Vollrath turned aside 17 shots in the first frame, but Prince George led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.
 
Witala notched his second goal for the Cougars before Royals' forward Alex Gogolev solved Engel. Tanner Lishchynsky and Colin Jacobs increased Prince George's lead to 4-1 before Patrik Polivka replaced Vollrath in the Victoria net. Cougars' defenceman Dallas Ehrhardt got one past Polivka and Logan Fisher netted a powerplay marker for the Royals as Prince George skated into the second intermission ahead 5-2.
 
Witala rounded out the scoring for the Cougars as he completed his hat-trick and the Royals were unable to draw any closer. Prince George 6 Victoria 2.
 
Victoria went 1/7=14.2% on the powerplay while Prince George was 0/5=0.0%. The Cougars outshot the Royals 34-30.
 
The Royals will wrap up their three-game road trip Saturday night in Prince George. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. Victoria will then head back to Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Tuesday, February 5th and Wednesday, February 6th for a midweek doubleheader against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Puck drop for both games is set for 7:05 p.m.