With the WHL playoffs a week away, the Prince George Cougars need to find a way to get rid of the big crowd yips.
In front of a standing-room-only crowd of 5,880 fans at CN Centre, the Cougars pulled one out of the fire in a tight checking 3-2 shootout victory over a much-younger Kamloops Blazers squad on Saturday.
Chase Wheatcroft and Koehn Ziemmer solved Blazers rookie netminder Jesse Sanche with a pair of highlight reel goals in the shootout.
Chase Wheatcroft ends his last career regular season game in STYLE 🥵🥵 and we are 8-0-2-1 in our last 11 heading into the postseason! pic.twitter.com/3nJPouCtY3
— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 26, 2023
After a scoreless first period, Hudson Thornton put the Cougars ahead at the 5:35 mark of the second period.
His point blast directed off a Blazers stick past Sanche. The tally for the 19-year-old from Winnipeg – his 23rd of the season surpassed Dustin Byfuglien for the most goals in a single season by a Cougars defenceman.
Hudson Thornton has passed Dustin Byfuglien for the MOST single season goals by a Cougars defenseman, in the jersey Big Buff wore during his Cougars career 🥹🥹🥹 https://t.co/ZJ4633Hzk6 pic.twitter.com/Ghq5sI7Ub0
— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 26, 2023
Unfazed and looking to make up for a flat effort from the night prior, Ashton Ferster got the inside track on Thornton three minutes later and tucked a rebound past PG netminder Tyler Brennan to even the score at 1-1.
Both teams finally found their skating legs shortly after as the transition chances started to pick up. Wheatcroft dangled into the Blazers zone only to ring his shot off the mask of Sanche. On a delayed PG infraction Logan Bairos pinched in from the point and let a blast go that found its way into the leather of Brennan.
Wheatcroft’s passing game continued to be on full display as he came in on a 2-on-1 rush locating Riley Heidt who deflected the puck past Sanche for a 2-1 edge. Kamloops continued its blue collar effort less than four minutes later as an Ethan Brandwood point shot found its way to Emmitt Finnie who slipped the puck past an outstretched Brennan to even the score at 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Doing the diamond proud 🥰#NHLDraft https://t.co/u7gSjZ6jmt pic.twitter.com/9aOGowvIzv
— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 26, 2023
Kamloops tried to take over the game in the third period. A point shot by Olen Zellweger on a Blazers power-play that was re-directed by Ryan Hofer was stopped in tight by Brennan. A few minutes later, Caden Brown’s turnaround shot on a 2-on-1 was stopped point blank by Sanche.
In overtime, the Blazers continued to amp up the pressure, outshooting the Cats 6-0. Matthew Seminoff had the game on his stick, three different times only to be turned away by Brennan.
🛑 Tyler Brennan said, “NO, THANK YOU, SIR!” 🛑@PGCougars | @NJDevils pic.twitter.com/nmPErpVenR
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 26, 2023
The Blazers outshot the Cougars 45-17 with Brennan named the first star.
“It was a pretty exciting game for the fans in some areas. We didn’t play very well. Brennan was great. That’s why we won,” stated Cougars coach and GM Mark Lamb on the 94.3 post-game show.
Both teams went a combined 0-for-7 on the man advantage (Kamloops 0-for-5 and P.G. 0-for-2).
This marked the final regular season game for Jaxsen Wiebe, and Wheatcroft in a Cougars uniform as well as another 20-year-old, Cole Dubinsky who was out of the lineup.
Kamloops kept Logan Stankoven, Fraser Minter, Daylan Kuefler, Kyle Masters and starting goaltender Dylan Ernst at home.
Wheatcroft, an offseason pickup from the Winnipeg ICE finished the regular season second in the WHL in scoring with 107 points – trailing only Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats who tallied a gaudy 143.
The Calgary product also finished tied in power-play goals with 22 – sharing the lead with Jackson Berezowski of the Everett Silvertips.
Heidt, on the other hand, tied Bedard for the WHL lead in assists with 72 and was first in the WHL in power-play helpers (39).
(Note: The WHL website Saturday night shows Bedard with 72 assists and Heidt with 71 but the Cougars expect Heidt to be given an assist on the 4th Prince George goal by Ziemmer Friday night in Kamloops in the P.G. 7-2 victory.)
The contest also marked the second mega 50/50 jackpot of the season, which reached over $144,000 – the winning ticket holder takes home half of the proceeds.
In addition, PG also wore its retro white jerseys, which were a part of franchise history from 1996-2008.
PG (37-24-6-1) kicks off its first-round playoff series Friday (7pm) and Saturday (6pm) against the Tri-City Americans (33-26-5-3) at CN Centre.
The Cougars enter the playoffs on an 11-game point streak (8-0-2-1) while the Americans are on a 7-game point streak (6-0-0-1).
747 regular season games down, one more to go. #WHLScores pic.twitter.com/z7FRp2XX0Z
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 26, 2023
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