Even though the Prince George Cougars rolled a lucky seven on the scoreboard, it was a night of firsts and seconds.
Not only did Cats netminder Ty Young collect his first WHL victory, but slick-scoring forward Koehn Ziemmer also put his name in the franchise record books by becoming the second player to notch a six-point effort.
(Dan Baum was the first Cougar to get six points in a game when he tallied a goal and five assists in the 2002-03 season. It came during a 9-8 OT victory over the Tri-City Americans)
“Things just clicked tonight with my linemates and it felt really good. We got in their zone, cycled the puck and got rewarded,” said the 17-year-old Ziemmer.
And all of this occurred during a 7-3 triumph over the Vancouver Giants on Wednesday in front of 1,559 fans at CN Centre.
It wasn’t the prettiest of starts for the Cougars as a Tanner Brown point shot found its way past a screened Young for a 1-0 lead.
Before the intermission, overage defenceman Alex Cotton found the back of the net as a seeing-eye shot from the blueline to give Vancouver a 2-0 edge after 20 minutes.
The turning point in the game came on the opening shift of the second period where a Giants shot tipped off the glove of Young but was swept off the line by Hudson Thronton.
Not even close ? https://t.co/B4fsDmFa0F
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 16, 2021
After a roughing minor by Cotton, the Cougars finally found their mojo on the power-play courtesy of Thornton who went bar down on Giants netminder Connor Martin after accepting a pass from the corner by Ziemmer.
Following a Riley Heidt goal to make it 2-2, PG took the lead before the break as Craig Armstrong swooped in and capitalized on Ziemmer feed putting the hosts in the driver seat.
Armstrong continued his offensive success in the opening minute of the third on another three-way scoring play that included Ziemmer and Keaton Dowhaniuk.
Ziemmer, also known as the Mayerthorpe Magician, got in on the scoring act, lighting the lamp twice in a two-minute span to extend the Cougars edge to 6-2.
“There wasn’t a lot we did differently in the last two periods we were just down a couple of goals. It wasn’t like we were playing bad, we were down two goals and we just had to stick with it and that is what we did,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars Head Coach, and General Manager.
HE. ISN’T. FINISHED!!!!!!!
Connor Bowie finds the back of the net on a breakaway, assisted by KOEHN FRIGGIN ZIEMMER. For those of you counting at home, thats SIX POINTS.
7-3, 15:25 pic.twitter.com/WXM07Z8Bvu
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 16, 2021
Connor Bowie added a late single for the Cats (12-14-0-0) to put a bow on their fourth-straight victory.
The trio of Ziemmer, Bowie and Armstrong combined for 11 points.
PG outshot Vancouver 35-31 and went 2-for-4 on the power-play. The Giants (13-12-1-0) have lost five straight.
Young made 28 saves in net for the Cougars.
Huge congratulations to Ty Young (@YoungerOhOne) on his first career WHL win! pic.twitter.com/z05bfCv8W4
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 16, 2021
The 17-year-old from Coaldale, Alberta was called up with Tyler Brennan currently day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
“I am so grateful to come back and get the opportunity from the AJHL and play with these guys and it’s a great opportunity. The team scored seven goals and really helped me out there. I was a little nervous going in and it was tough when I let the first goal in but I just had to refocus and the team picked me up,”
Lamb had no reservations about putting the rookie in.
“I’ve said it many times, the strength of this team is goaltending. We have Gauthier, Brennan and Young and we are very lucky.”
Since going down to the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Calgary Canucks in October, Young has gotten no shortage of reps at the Junior A level, facing an average of 39 shots a game.
Young sports a 4-10-3 record with a 3.38 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
While not a goaltending connoisseur, Lamb is a big believer in Young’s abilities at the WHL level.
“We put him into a spot where can get a lot of shots and some games in and he’s getting respect from a lot of people. I like everything about him. I am not a real technical guy when it comes to goaltending but I like his compete and you throw that into a game and he plays the same way.”
Martin took the loss in goal for the Giants who allowed five markers on 28 shots and was pulled in favour of Will Gurski (two goals on seven shots).
Changing it Up
After not scoring in seven games, Ziemmer told the media post-game he wore a different suit to the game and also went back to his old tape job with his stick.
An approach that paid off in spades.
“I am really superstitious. I started from toe to heel and then I went from heel to toe (when taping his stick). I had the right suit and maybe I will keep it for the next couple games.”
Ziemmer is also the first Cougars player to record at least five points in a game since Jansen Harkins did it against the Portland Winterhawks on March 29th, 2017.
The Cougars finish off the pre-Christmas schedule with stops in Kamloops (Friday) and Vancouver (Saturday).
The puck drop for both games is 7 pm.
Koehn Ziemmer. That's the tweet.#NorthernUprising | #WHL
? https://t.co/XRDGxtlNIB pic.twitter.com/INIz6lV1lW
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 16, 2021