Castanet: Game report
r By Wayne Moore – Castanet.net
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r The Western Hockey League's worst team gave the Kelowna Rockets all they could handle and then some Wednesday.
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r The Rockets needed a shootout to get past the stubborn Prince George Cougars 5-4.
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r The Cougars entered the contest with just three wins on the season.
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r Tyson Barrie scored the lone goal of the shootout, beating Alex Wright five-hole with the game winner.
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r "I've kind of got a few moves I work on in practice and that one seems to work pretty well," says Barrie.
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r "I opened him up and got lucky tonight."
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r The Rockets came out flying and grabbed a 2-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old, getting goals from Mitchell Callahan (sixth) and Brandon McMillan (fifth).
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r After that, the Rockets stopped skating, allowing the Cougars to push back.
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r "We quit skating after eight minutes went by in the first period. I thought we had a good start to the game which is something we've talked about the last few days," says head coach Ryan Huska.
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r "We just quit moving our feet after that second goal and allowed them to get back in the game."
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r James Dobrowolski scored a pair two-and-a-half minutes apart midway through the first pulling the Cougars even.
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r Nick Buonassisi put the Cougars up one, scoring on a breakaway just seconds after stepping out of the penalty box at 8:36 of the second.
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r That goal seemed to wake up the Rockets who took it to the Cougars for much of the rest of the period.
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r Kyle St. Denis notched his ninth of the season, deflecting home a nifty pass from Shane McColgan to even the score on a power-play before the second period ended.
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r Spencer Main put the Rockets up 4-3 just 1:44 into the third before Robbie Ciolfi evened the score 1:02 later.
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r The rest of the third and overtime was scoreless, setting the stage for Barrie's shootout heroics.
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r McMillan, who missed six games with a foot injury, was one of the few Rockets who skated hard all game long.
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r The 19-year-old forward had a goal and an assist and had several chances for more, missing on a pair of shorthanded breakaways.
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r McMillan was stopped following a deke to the backhand on the first one and a forehand move on the second.
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r "I was coming down the right side on the second one so I was going to try and take the other side of the net, but I couldn't get it over his pad. It was a little frustrating but he made some good saves so good on him," says McMillan.
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r With the win, the Rockets move ahead of both Kamloops and Chilliwack and into second spot in the WHL's B.C. Division.
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r "It's important for us to get two points at home. It wasn't the prettiest win by any stretch of the imagination but we'll take the win tonight," added Huska.
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r "You have to win your games early in the year, especially at home. We found a way in the shootout because of some good goaltending by Adam and a nice goal by Tyson."
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r The Rockets will close out their four game home stand Friday when they host Chilliwack before heading into Kamloops Saturday.
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