WHL
Drayson Bowman scored his first career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 victory over the injury-riddled Prince George Cougars in Western Hockey League play Tuesday night.
Bowman, a Carolina Hurricanes third-round pick in the 2007 NHL draft, opened the scoring 7:13 into the match when he converted a pass from behind the net by Ondrej Roman.
Marcus Watson tied the match when he took advantage of a broken play and sent a shot beyond Chiefs goaltender Dustin Tokarski early in the second period.
Bowman restored the lead at 11:30 on the power play and Mitch Wahl made it 3-1 midway through the third period for Spokane (15-3-1-2).
Bowman added his team-leading 15th goal late in the third after converting a long feed to him at the right side of the net.
”(Bowman) played well, and what happened in this one is that their top guys outplayed our top guys,” Cougars coach Drew Schoneck told the Prince George Citizen.
Prince George (9-14-0-0) has now lost five straight games and is tied with Kamloops for last place in the B.C. Division, although the Blazers hold three games in hand.
Elsewhere in the WHL it was: Lethbridge 3 Seattle 2 and Saskatoon 3 Brandon 2.
At Spokane, Wash., Cougars goalie Tommy Tartaglione made 32 saves while Tokarski blocked 16 shots to improve his record to 8-1-1 on the season.
Hurricanes 3 Thunderbirds 2
At Lethbridge, Alta., Adam Chorneyko’s power-play goal at 15:50 of the third period gave the Hurricanes a win over Seattle.
Blades 3 Wheat Kings 2
At Saskatoon, Stefan Elliott’s goal at 9:21 of the third period was the difference as the Blades edged visiting Brandon.
Source: WHL: Chiefs tame Cougars
