By Eric Welsh

Black Press

The Chilliwack Bruins ended a five-game road trip in Prince George Saturday night, overcoming a three-goal deficit before falling 5-4 in a shootout. By splitting two games with their B.C. division rivals to the north, the Bruins have improved to 4-6-1-3, collecting points from seven of their last eight games (3-1-1-3). They sit seventh in the Western conference, tied with the Everett Silvertips and one point up on the Spokane Chiefs.

The road-weary Bruins were hardly world beaters in the first half of this game, but they did open the scoring two minutes and 10 seconds in on a goal by Jamie Crooks. The 17-year-old reeled in a pass from Roman Horak and took off down the right wing. He finished the rush with a perfect shot, ripping the puck past Cougars keeper Alex Wright for his third of the season and a 1-0 lead.

Chilliwack ran into penalty trouble midway through the period, and the Cougars drew even on a five-on-three power play. First, Mitch McColm was sent off for holding up Jaroslav Vlach. Then, Colton Grant was tagged for high sticking.

As time ticked down in the McColm minor, James Dobrowolski worked his way in front and sniped his second of the season past Chilliwack netminder Mark Friesen.

The Bruins ran into more penalty trouble late in the period, facing another extended five-on-three on back-to-back penalties by Brandon Manning (cross-checking) and Ryan Howse (delay of game). But Chilliwack’s penalty killers, ranked 16th in the league, snuffed out the threat.

Despite being out-shot 16-7 through 20 minutes, the Bruins entered period two in a 1-1 tie.

The Cougars broke the draw just 47 seconds into the middle frame on a Parker Stanfield tally. Rookie defenceman Jesse Forsberg started the play at the point, spotting Marek Viedensky down low. The San Jose Sharks prospect took the Forsberg pass and quickly sent the puck cross-crease to Stanfield. He quickly banged the puck past Friesen for his first of the season and a 2-1 Prince George lead.

Stanfield almost struck again seconds later, stealing the puck from Jesse Pauls and storming in on a clear-cut breakaway. But Friesen made a monstrous save to keep his team in the game.

But the Cougars kept pressing, and added to their lead late in the second period on a goal by Nick Buonassisi. Left unchecked in front, the Coquitlam native was robbed by Friesen on his first shot. Buonassisi grabbed his own rebound and buried it to give his team a 3-1 lead.

The desperate Bruins caught a huge break with just 10 seconds remaining in the middle frame. Langley native Dylen McKinlay was in the right place at the right time to poke the rebound of a Manning point shot past Wright for his sixth of the season. Despite being badly out-shot and out-played, Chilliwack skated into period three with momentum, and a chance to win.

The Bruins took just 40 seconds to tie the game early in the third on a goal by Kevin Sundher. The Surrey native potted his sixth of the season on a shot that appeared to change direction on its way into the net. The announced crowd of 2,017, loud moments earlier, was suddenly silent.

With four minutes and 59 seconds left in the game, a Prince George native appeared to strike a fatal blow against the Cougars. Capping an excellent shift by the second line, Manning took a feed from Crooks and hammered a shot past Wright to give the Bruins their first lead.

But with 1:06 to go and the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Prince George clawed back, with defenceman Dallas Jackson bouncing a bad-angle shot off of David Robinson’s stick and into the Chilliwack net.

Moving into five minutes of four-on-four overtime, Chilliwack had several spectacular chances in the extra-session, out-shooting the Cougars 5-0. But Wright stood tall to get his team into the shootout.

And in the breakaway competition, Wright shut the door, making stops on Sundher, Howse, Horak and McKinlay to earn his first Western Hockey League win. The Bruins have yet to score a goal in a shootout this season.

At the other end, Friesen made big stops on Jackson, Vlach and Viedensky before finally yielding the decisive goal to Buonassisi.

In three games against Prince George this season, the Bruins now sport a record of 1-1-1-0.