It came a day later than they wanted but the Prince George Cougars picked up their first win in 2023 last night. (Saturday)
The Cats gave up a goal in the first but scored three unanswered to pick up the 3-1 win over the Everett Silvertips.
The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Silvertips, dating back to January 2020.
Ty Young stood on his head in front of the 2,544 fans at the CN Centre last night, stopping all but one of the 27 shots he faced.
Riley Heidt scored a pair for the Cougars, including the empty net insurance marker with less than a minute to go.
Come for the goal, stay for the league’s cutest fan#NHLDraft https://t.co/8l6g6RAKl2 pic.twitter.com/0pUkRAkB6V
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 8, 2023
“We stuck to it, and you get rewarded for doing that,” Heidt said on last night’s post-game show on 94.3 The Goat.
“It’s tough on our guys, we’re double shifting, just because that’s the way they’re playing, so it’s good to get that one.”
PG’s own Caden Brown scored his tenth of the year, and added an assist on Heidt’s first.
That Carter – Caden – Connection! (for real this time 🤦♂️) https://t.co/kHXVi8AMah pic.twitter.com/MYAusYdjfQ
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 8, 2023
Austin Roest scored Everett’s lone goal unassisted.
Not too shabby, eh? 🔥
pic.twitter.com/q1owoQRnCn— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) January 8, 2023
“We did a lot of good things,” said Cougars Head Coach and GM Mark Lamb on the postgame show.
“Our powerplay was something that was a little off, I guess you’re missing [Ethan] Samson, that has a lot to do with it.”
Samson was serving his first game of a two game suspension for a boarding major in Friday’s game.
“[Everett] played six, seven forwards, eight forwards, the whole night, so we had a hard match, so we had a lot of guys who didn’t get out on the ice,” Lamb continued.
“But we just stuck to our game plan and it worked.”
Everett’s Ryan Hofer was assessed a two-minute minor for slashing, and a match penalty for attempt to injure for an incident that occurred after the final buzzer.
Some post-game nastiness after the Cougars’ win tonight, all brought on by 15 in green.
There is a lot of hockey left to play, but we could be looking at a 4 vs 5 playoff preview right here. pic.twitter.com/wJlvhIFL4a
— Will Peters (@WillPeters_1) January 8, 2023
Cougars forward Jaxsen Wiebe was also assessed a two-minute minor for roughing in the incident.
“It’s huge for [Wiebe] to do that, it’s a ton of respect,” Heidt said.
“He’s got the whole team on his back when he does that and he shows that he sticks up for his teammates.”
“He’s kind of a policeman out there,” Lamb said.
“He’s willing to do anything for the team.”
The full box score can be found here.
With the win the Cougars improve to 16-17-3-0, good for third in the WHL’s BC Division standings behind the Vancouver Giants (16-16-4-2) and the Kamloops Blazers (22-8-4-2).
Everett fell to 18-18-1-0, good for third in the US Division.
The full WHL standings can be found here.
The Cougars will head to the Okanagan on Tuesday for a matchup with the Kelowna Rockets (13-20-3-0).
That will be the first of a seven-game road trip that will take the Cats through Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The full Cougars Schedule can be found here.