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HomeNewsWheatcroft's dominance on display as Cougars whitewash Rockets

Wheatcroft’s dominance on display as Cougars whitewash Rockets

Chase Wheatcroft is proving to be a steal of a deal.

The 20-year-old forward imposed his will, extending his point streak to 11 games in a 7-2 thrashing over the Kelowna Rockets in front of 2.211 fans at CN Centre on Wednesday.

Wheatcroft, who was named the game’s first star courtesy of his three-point performance, which included a pair of goals.

His first tally came at the 10:26 mark of the second period, accepting a centre ice pass from Jaxsen Wiebe –  carrying the puck into the Rockets zone and tap-dancing past defender Ethan Middlesteadt.

Wheatcroft then added his second of the game at 11:11 of the third period as a Viliam Kmec shot off the rush handcuffed Rockets goalie Jari Kykkanen, leaving a juicy rebound for the over ager.

To give you an idea on how lights out Wheatcroft has been for the Cougars, he has 11 points in his last four games along with 21 points during an 11-game point streak.

And for good measure, Wheatcroft leads the Cougars in goals with 32 – 19 of which have been on the power-play, best in the WHL.

Not a bad return when considering head coach and general Mark Lamb only gave up a measly 4th round pick in the 2023 Prospects Draft to the Winnipeg ICE.

“Wheaty has been unreal lately. He is a pretty special player and pretty dynamic. I don’t know if I have seen that many players with the offensive skills he has in the o-zone. Sometimes I think he is losing the puck and it will be on a string. He’s been incredible lately and hopefully he can keep it up,” said Wiebe postgame to MyPGNow.com.

The Cougars pounced on the Rockets right from the opening puck drop.

PG struck twice on the power-play in less than a minute. First, Ethan Samson held the puck inside the Kelowna line connecting on a cross ice pass with Koehn Ziemmer who beat Kykkanan and a yawning cage.

Wheatcroft also went cross-ice, finding Hudson Thronton at the far point, blasting a shot that eluded Kykkanen for a 2-0 edge after 20 minutes.

After Middlestedt trimmed the deficit to 3-1, newly-acquired forward Zac Funk joined the offensive party redirecting a Keaton Dowhaniuk point shot past Kykkanen extending the Cougar lead to 4-1.

Funk then turned into the role of playmaker feeding Wiebe on a broken play inside the Kelowna zone who collected his 10th of the campaign at 9:17 of the third period.

Adam Kydd (Kelowna) and Cayden Glover (Prince George) traded singles as the Cats completed the mid-week sweep over the Rockets.

After the game, Wiebe also touched on the importance of the Cougars secondary scoring as they ended a five-game homestand with a 4-1 record.

“It’s the way things go. You are happy to contribute when you can and things worked out that way. We got scoring through our whole lineup and we are pretty scary when we are playing like that.”

Furthermore, Wiebe has 11 points in his last seven contests.

PG outshot Kelowna 43-17, including a 17-3 spread in the third period.

What was equally as refreshing is the continued resurgence of netminder Tyler Brennan.

The 19-year-old New Jersey Devils prospect won his fifth consecutive start – allowing two goals or less in four of those outings.

Brennan admitted to going through a mental funk for a while but stated he is returning back to the goalie he knows he can be.

“I just started going back to the way I used to be. I have gotten back to the same habits, not trying to change anything and play my game the best I can to help the team win and I am glad to be back in a groove.”

“When I am playing my best I give my team a good chance to win and that is what I try and do every single night. I try to help them win and let them do all the scoring.”

The Cougars now travel to Kelowna to complete the mini three-game series with the Rockets on Friday at 7pm from Prospera Place.

PG (23-21-4-0) is two points back of the Everett Silvertips (25-22-2-0) for fifth in the Western Conference while Kelowna drops to (17-28-3-0) four points up on the Victoria Royals for the final playoff spot.

Wednesday’ tilt also marked the return of Cougars overage forward Cole Dubinsky who re aggravated a high-ankle sprain January 14th against the Swift Current Broncos.

When healthy, Dubsinky has been a force notching 24 points in 29 games.

Smithers product Carson Golder had two assists in a losing cause for the Rockets while PG native Scott Cousins was held pointless.

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