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Armstrong pulls the trigger for Cats

Craig Armstrong will probably score a lot more goals in his Western Hockey League career. But he sure picked a good time to score his first.
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Craig Armstrong will probably score a lot more goals in his Western Hockey League career.

But he sure picked a good time to score his first.

The 16-year-old Prince George Cougars rookie was in the right spot at the right time standing at the top of the crease when the rebound of a Cole Moberg point shot landed on his stick and Armstrong made it count.

The goal, 11:42 into the third period, gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead and they hung on to defeat the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-2 Friday night in Moose Jaw, Sask.

The win put a sweet cap on the Cougars’ six-game tour of the East Division and they finished their longest roadtrip of the season with a 2-2-1-1 count which improved their overall record to 12-24-3-4.

Goals by Moberg, on the power play, and Mitch Kohner staked the Cats to a 2-0 lead after one period. Owen Hardy gave the Warriors some life midway through the second period, scoring his 19th of the season on a Moose Jaw power play, but Armstrong restored the two-goal lead two minutes later. Linemate Nikita Krivokrasov did most of the bull work digging the puck out of the corner to get it back to Moberg on the point.

The Warriors drew close with 1:44 left on a goal from Eric Alarie and had the puck in the Prince George end for much of the remaining time on the clock but the Cougars kept them from generating any dangerous shots for rookie goalie Tyler Brennan.

Brennan made 28 saves to notch his fourth win of the season. The shots favoured the Cougars 34-30. Twenty of those Prince George shots came in the first period, a season-high for the Cats.  

The Warriors (11-26-2-0), last in the East, have lost five straight and nine of their last 10.

The Cougars return to CN Centre next weekend to begin a six-game homestand against the B.C. Division-leading Kamloops Blazers.