Cougars goalies get lots of work

Billy Thompson and Todd Ford stopped 114 of the Seattle Thunderbirds 125 shots over the weekend. While on the other end Brent Krahn was left virtually untested as he stopped 40 of 44 shots.
That was the difference as the T-birds headed into Wednesday night’s game with a 2-0 series lead.
The T-birds won the opener 4-1 and game two 7-3.
Cougars head coach Ed Dempsey said the team came out with a quick start both nights but they need to play a full 60 minutes.
“We had an excellent first period. Our goal was to come out in the first 10minutes tied or better, which we did. If there was one big factor in both games it was our start.
“We need a solid team effort. We have to try and get something positive from everybody. And if we’re going to have an opportunity we are going to need everyone to play well for us,” said Dempsey. “We’ll give it a good shot here Wednesday night. We’re going to focus on game three here. No matter what. We need to win a hockey game.”
Thompson had 47 saves in game one in Seattle.
“Billy played really well in game one. To be honest, I think that Todd would like to have a couple back in game two. We can see also that the shot count was a little over inflated. But a lot of times you are going to have that especially in the other team’s rink,” said Dempsey.
“We didn’t get nearly enough shots in the first game. In the second game we did better and were able to produce three goals. If we can continue to do that and shore up in the back end we have a chance.”
Dan Baum scored the Cougars only goal in the series opener. He also scored in game two, with Aaron Foster and Chris Falloon picking up the other goals.
The Cougars will look to their specialty teams to continue their success as the series continues.
“Our penalty kill was excellent over the weekend and our powerplay which wasn’t too good coming into the series didn’t have a good first game. Our special teams are in pretty good shape there and we just have to keep it going,” said Dempsey.
The Cougars went two-for-seven in game two and killed 10 of 12 penalties, including killing all six in game two.
Game four will be played today (Thursday) at the Multiplex at 7:30 p.m.