It might not have been a complete 60-minute effort but the Prince George Cougars proved to be efficient against the Victoria Royals.
A pair of two-goal efforts from Jonny Hooker and Koehn Ziemmer led the Cats to a 5-3 victory on Tuesday night in front of 1,472 fans at CN Centre.
“When you start working hard and put pucks down low we can create turnovers and once you create turnovers, you can get up ice and get odd-man rushes.” said Hooker.
Stay hot PG ??
Cougars get off to a quick 2-0 lead.
? | https://t.co/E0Cl58T8ou (free)#CHLTVGOTW | @KubotaCanadaLtd | @PGCougars pic.twitter.com/Zfg5gP3Ng7
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) January 19, 2022
It took the Cougars less than four minutes to open the scoring as Hooker re-directed a Keaton Dowhaniuk point shot past Royals netminder Campbell Arnold for a 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Riley Heidt found a streaking Ziemmer down the right wing and lit the lamp past a sprawled out Arnold for a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second, PG continued its offensive onslaught, this time around, it was Ziemmer kicking off the festivities, potting his 15th of the season.
Frustration continued to sink in for the struggling Royals as affiliate defenceman Luke Rybinski took a high-sticking double-minor after Cougars forward Craig Armstrong drew blood on the infraction.
In the first it was Hooker then Ziemmer that scored
In the second it’s Ziemmer then Hooker#CHLTVGOTW | @KubotaCanadaLtd | @PGCougars pic.twitter.com/J0CUGU2QMW
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) January 19, 2022
The Cats power-play clicked into high gear as Hooker completed a three-way scoring play that included import defenceman Jonas Brondberg and Blake Eastman.
During the second half of the man advantage, Hudson Thornton joined the offensive explosion capping off a Carter MacAdams pass for a commanding 5-0 edge.
“It’s nice that it’s been starting to click. It has been a problem all year and it’s nice to start getting results,” said Hooker post-game to MyPGNow.com.
Before the intermission, Victoria woke up and made the score a little more respectable. An impressive individual effort from Gannon Laroque as well as a top-corner blast from Anthony Wilson.
Luke Shipley notched the only goal for the Royals in the third period as his spin-o-rama-attempt blew past the shoulder of Cougars netminder Tyler Brennan.
PG (16-17-1-1) went 3-for-6 on the power-play while Victoria (12-16-4-0) was 1-for-4.
Heidt (PG) and Wyatt Wilson (Victoria) both finished the game with two assists each.
After dropping five in a row, the Cougars have won three straight. Hooker believes with the trade deadline now past, some of the players are breathing a sigh of relief.
“It can be in the back of the mind of some guys but this is our team, we are confident and I have full confidence we can do really good things with this group.”
Eleven out of Ziemmer’s 15 goals this season have come since December 14th.
The Cougars are 6-0 against the Royals this season out scoring them by a 25-8 margin
The injury bug continues to bite Victoria as they had seven players out of the lineup including skilled forwards Keanu Derungs and Tarun Fizer.
Both teams are back at it tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm from CN Centre.
Make it three in a rowww. pic.twitter.com/8rAssl8cRf
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) January 19, 2022