The PG Cougars started their weekend off with a huge 9-1 road win over the Victora Royals.
Hudson Thornton picked up a hat trick and added a trio of assists for a six-point night in front of 2,792 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria.
Have a night, Hudson.@PGCougars | #WHLHatTricks pic.twitter.com/4EcAXYTKDj
— The WHL (@TheWHL) November 19, 2022
“It’s nice to see him in a game like that get rewarded,” said Cougars Assistant Coach Carter Rigby on the post-game show on 94.3 The Goat.
“He’s got family here watching and when he scored that third one the bench got pretty excited for him too.”
Thornton’s six points also put him in the lead for scoring amongst WHL defencemen.
While Thornton did the bulk of the scoring, the whole team was contributing to the big lead.
Keaton Dowhaniuk picked up a pair of goals, his first multi-goal WHL game, as well as his first two of the season.
We refuse to believe this is his first of the season 😵 https://t.co/E74MdeDbMD pic.twitter.com/SJ3MrSmuZd
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 19, 2022
Caden Brown (4), Chase Wheatcroft (15), Viliam Kmec (1), and Cole Dubinsky (6) each added one goal a piece.
Koehn Ziemmer added an assist, as he and Thornton extended their point streaks to 12 games each.
Three of the Cougars goals came on the powerplay, as they went 3/5 on the game.
Just three Cougars were held off the scoresheet in the monster win.
“The offence is great, and it’s nice to see everybody contributing,” said Rigby.
“Still in a game like that, those are tough ones. I didn’t think our defensive game was great-great, Younger stood on his head in the first ten minutes to keep us in it. At the end of the day it’s a victory on the road and we’ll take it either way.”
Young made 21 saves in the game.
The full box score can be found here.
The Cougars (11-9-0-0) are now atop the WHL BC Division standings with 22 points.
The Cougars are just one point ahead of the Kamloops Blazers, who have four games in hand.
The full WHL Standings can be found here.
The Cougars and Royals (3-15-3-0) will play again tonight at 6:05.