After another strong showing, the Cougars were rewarded with just a point last night (Friday).
Despite the Cougars rallying to tie the game in the third period, the Lethbridge Hurricanes walked off with a 4-3 overtime victory on home ice in front of 3301 fans.
The overtime goal in question was under review for roughly 3 minutes after it was scored, leaving a bad taste in some Cougars fans’ mouths.
Tyson Laventure is the WHOA-vertime winner for the @WHLHurricanes! pic.twitter.com/Cr3ygyoGTo
— The WHL (@TheWHL) January 14, 2023
The net was off as the puck crossed the goal line, but it was determined that Cougars’ forward Jaxsen Wiebe was the one who knocked into Ty Young, who sent it off.
Among fans who did not like the call, fans at the game commenting on the Cougars’ Facebook page say there was a case to be made for too many men on the play, claiming Lethbridge made a very early line change that led to the rush.
The broadcast video feed did not catch the Hurricanes bench on the play.
Despite drama at the end, the Cougars played another solid game, putting their 2022-ending skid farther behind themselves.
Ethan Samson, returning from his two game suspension, opened the scoring just over five minutes into the game.
His celebration would be cut short when Prince George’s very own Miguel Marques scored his fourth of the season against his hometown team.
🚨 @miguelmarques88
🍏 @Blakeswetlikoff pic.twitter.com/tIjt39wH6W— Lethbridge Hurricanes (@WHLHurricanes) January 14, 2023
No more goals were scored in the first, but Fischer O’Brien did cause an unusual delay.
Fish out here damaging private property 🫣
…no hard feelings @WHLHurricanes? pic.twitter.com/tNClfZnUjc
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 14, 2023
Lethbridge took the lead 3-2 after two, Chase Wheatcroft scored the Cougars’ second period goal on the powerplay – against one of his former teams.
That is Wheatcroft’s WHL leading 16th powerplay goal – he is just two behind the Cougars’ all-time single season powerplay goal record, set by Berkeley Buchko in the 2000-01 season, with 30 games left in the season.
Trailing by one heading into the third, the Cougars turned up the pressure.
Riley Heidt scored on a Koehn Ziemmer feed, and the Cats continued to out-chance the Hurricanes for the remainder of the period, but would not be able to beat goaltender Bryan Thomson again.
.@NHLCentralScout has Riley Heidt and Koehn Ziemmer rated in the top 30.
Here's why. #NHLDraft https://t.co/3dSVYTCg4s pic.twitter.com/Yzl9dZ2gFf
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 14, 2023
The final shots were 34-31 Prince George, including 17 in the third period.
Prince George was 1/3 on the powerplay, and did not take a single penalty during the game (aside from a Blake Eastman fighting major).
The Cougars record now sits at 17-17-4-0, while Lethbridge improves to 23-15-0-2.
Everett and Vancouver both lost in regulation last night, the extra point pushes the Cougars into 5th place in the Western Conference with 38 points, 1 point behind the Silvertips for fourth.
Koehn Ziemmer and Riley Heidt both had two points in the game, remaining tied with one another at 54 points in 38 games – 4th in league scoring.
Next on the road trip, the Cougars hop another border into Saskatchewan to play the Swift Current Broncos (19-17-0-1).
That game will be at 5:00 (pst) tonight.
For the full box score, click here.
Well, it was still a whole lot better than our last Friday the 13th game in March 2020 😅😷 pic.twitter.com/0d63GUXKu2
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 14, 2023