In a game filled with blue chip prospects like Koehn Zimmer, Riley Heidt and Brayden Yager – it was Caden Brown who took the bull by the horns and shined some of the spotlight on himself.
The 17-year-old forward came up aces, notching two goals and one assist pacing the Prince George Cougars to a 5-2 come from behind victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors in front of 1,804 fans at the CN Centre on Wednesday.
“I feel like I played my game and got a couple bounces my way. I haven’t been getting much of that this year but tonight I was opportunistic.”
Ok Caden, we see you 👀 https://t.co/ZMh73oJ299 pic.twitter.com/SEZvJBrxOU
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 24, 2022
Brown, who brands himself as a skilled power-forward, feels his game at the WHL level is starting to evolve.
“I feel like the more games I play the more comfortable I am using my body in the corner using it against the bigger, stronger players in my second year in the league. I feel I am getting used to that and I want to make more of an impact in my game.”
However, to begin the game, the Cougars had to weather another slow start.
After a failed pinch at the Warrior blueline, New York Rangers prospect Ryder Korczak opened the scoring at 3:46 of the first period accepting a pass from Erik Alarie, handcuffing Ty Young for an early 1-0 edge.
Eight minutes later, Moose Jaw doubled its advantage as Jagger Firkus sent a cross-ice feed through the Cougar defense and on to the blade of Lucas Brenton who notched his 1st of the season.
However, the tide of the game changed for good after an undisciplined by import forward Robert Baco who bowled over Young inside the Cougars crease leading to a power-player.
Just over a minute later, Brown accepted a pass from Cole Dubinsky who then outwaited Warriors goaltender Connor Ungar, tucking it inside the post bringing the sparse CN Centre crowd to its feet.
Brown then doubled his pleasure streaking out of the Moose Jaw zone on a partial breakaway powering past Brenton and lifting the puck over the shoulder of Ungar evening the score at 2-2.
“I got a bounce right at the blueline and I saw some space and wanted to take off and I got a lucky bounce on my shot,” added Brown.
Have yourself a period Caden Brown! https://t.co/ZweMrvMflG pic.twitter.com/28EHCcNOik
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 24, 2022
PG poured on the pressure in the second period, outshooting Moose Jaw by a whopping 24-4 margin but it was Ungar who kept the game at a deadlock.
Like a really aggressive race car driver, the Cougars kept in full throttle in the third period.
At the 2:14 mark Ondrej Becher fended off a Moose Jaw check and located Chase Wheatcroft whose bullet-like slapshot found its way past Ungar giving PG its first lead of the evening.
Not to be outdone, the big guns of Heidt and Ziemmer made their presence felt at the 8:31 mark as a behind-the-back feed by Ziemmer found the tape of his linemate who squirted his 12th of the season through the arm of Ungar.
FIRST 👏 ROUND 👏 TALENT 👏#NHLDraft https://t.co/r1sCJy36Wx pic.twitter.com/6PVLA2ISAi
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 24, 2022
Looking for a spark, Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary was looking to pull Ungar in favour of the extra-attack. That plan backfired as an icing call led to a clean faceoff win by Dubinsky who found Noah Boyko who buried the puck into the Warriors cage.
The Cougars outshot Moose Jaw 46-21 overall, including a 34-10 spread in the last two periods.
“The boys just dialed it in during the first intermission and we started playing our game. Sometimes we come out slow but I think we handled it very well,” said Keaton Dowhaniuk, who spoke with MyPGNow.com post game after a two-assist effort.
“We focused on our defensive game, kept simple and played the game right.”
While Dubinsky’s five-game goal streak came to an end, his point streak extended to six games.
In addition, Ziemmer’s point heater reached 14 games thanks to his one assist effort while Hudson Thronton’s 13-game point streak came to an end.
Furthermore, Wheatcroft has points in nine consecutive contests – this includes 12 goals during that span.
PG’s power-play continues to make mincemeat out of the WHL, leading the way with 30 goals while having the second-best percentage at 28.8%, trailing only the Portland Winterhawks (32.1%).
For Moose Jaw, this was the first of a seven-game road swing, which will span the next two-weeks.
Yager, who is an “A” rated skater for the upcoming NHL Draft was invisible on the scoresheet for the Warriors, going pointless and registering one shot on goal.
Moose Jaw’s (13-9-0-0) next game on the trip is Friday against Kamloops.
The Cougars (13-9-0-0) are 1st place in the BC Division, three points up on the Blazers (10-4-2-1).
Make that 12 goals, 17 points for Wheatcroft in his last 9 games 🤯 https://t.co/yqs3cTZ5Xv pic.twitter.com/uTHbD7Agvo
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 24, 2022
Both teams lock horns Saturday night at 6pm from CN Centre.
You can catch all the action on 94.3 the Goat with Cole Waldie and Hartley Miller.
5⃣ unanswered goals
4⃣ wins in a row
1⃣ in the BC Division.#ForTheNorth . #WHL pic.twitter.com/F1f60XflT3— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 24, 2022