With game six on his stick, Chase Wheatcroft only had one thing in mind.
Advance the Prince George Cougars to the second round of the 2023 WHL playoffs.
The 20-year-old from Calgary did exactly that, sending a raucous CN Centre crowd of 5,383 fans to its feet, notching the series winning goal in a 5-4 overtime victory on Sunday over the Tri-City Americans.
“It was unbelievable. I was lucky enough to put it in. It was a pretty special one for sure,” Wheatcroft told the media post game.
“They scored a couple late to tie it up but that’s alright – we have a resilient group and we stuck with the game plan and got the win out of it so that’s big. That’s just the start for us.”
Overtime hero Chase Wheatcroft speaks with the media following 5-4 victory for @PGCougars against @TCAmericans pic.twitter.com/oNUBUcFECK
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) April 10, 2023
The last time the Cougars got past the first round was in 2007.
It was a dream start for the Cats, exploding for a trio of goals in the first period and getting into the psyche of Americans netminder Tomas Suchanek.
Riley Heidt put the Cougars on the board after the initial shot by Zac Funk on a 3-on-2 was stopped by Suchanek. Three minutes later, a transition rush by Tri-City was stymied at centre ice, leading to a 2-on-1. Caden Brown’s precision passing led to a perfect deflection by Cole Dubinsky to double the Cougars edge to 2-0.
It’s the rally towel celly for us 🤟 https://t.co/txiIuJx20M pic.twitter.com/k675M9XgmH
— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 10, 2023
The Americans got on the board at the 12:51 mark as a hard point shot from Alex Serraglio found its way to Ethan Ernst. After getting stoned in tight by Cougars netminder Ty Young, Reese Belton pounced on the rebound, cutting the deficit in half.
But, the Cougars depth rose to the occasion before periods end as a deflection by Heidt sprung Brown on a breakaway – once inside the Tri-City zone, Brown fanned on his shot but had the presence of mind to spin around and dish it off to Fischer O’Brien who tapped it into the yawning cage.
O’Brien, who is revered by his teammates and often considered a “glue guy” said the near-full house on an Easter Sunday, gave the club an emotional boost.
“It’s awesome, it gives us a lot of energy, and makes us want to be here.”
The 19-year-old local product also dropped the mitts in overtime with Tri-City forward Deagan McMillan after delivering a big hit near the neutral zone.
“I ran the guy over in the corner and I guess the guy wanted to fight me so I am not going to say no.”
Fischer O’Brien of @PGCougars on moving on to second round of @TheWHL playoffs against @SeattleTbirds after series win against @TCAmericans #cityofpg #princegeorge #northernbc pic.twitter.com/neK6Z65nO3
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) April 10, 2023
However, with their season on the line, the Americans provided a big push, causing some tense moments in the crowd during the second period. Right off the opening faceoff, Young misplayed the puck behind the goal and was stripped of it by Jaylen Luypen who located Ethan Ernst, trimming the deficit to 3-2.
Tri-City’s tenacious forecheck, caused problems for the Cougars defence. An aggressive play on the puck by Viliam Kmec, led to a breakaway by Tysen Greenway who potted his fifth of the series past Young to even the score after 40 minutes.
Not to be outdone, Young made several key saves to give PG a puncher’s chance heading into the intermission. Parker Bell would be his first victim after robbing him point blank and then outwaited Ernst.
“Everything kind of blurs together. Once all of the pressure is on you kind of stay in the zone and have tunnel vision. You take each shot thinking it’s your most important of the series,” said Young.
1/2 @PGCougars netminder Ty Young chats with media on 5-4 overtime thriller against @TCAmericans to advance to Round 2 in @TheWHL playoffs #cityofpg #PrinceGeorge #northernbc #sports pic.twitter.com/LFU6z3LtEe
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) April 10, 2023
In the third, the Cougars top line reclaimed the lead. A Viliam Kmec point shot led to a cycle play from Koehn Ziemmer, who found Heidt, who then connected a back-hand pass to Funk who made no mistake.
But, like a bad rash, Tri-City refused to go away quietly. An ill-advised turnover by Keaton Dowhaniuk, found its way to Bell, who located Jake Sloan to even the score at 4-4.
The Americans outshot PG 38-37. Both teams failed to capitalize on their only power-play opportunity.
Young, who has taken over from an injured Tyler Brennan has gone 3-1 with a 2.65 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.
“At the start of the series I wasn’t supposed to be playing and I just wanted the team to do great. Unfortunately, Brennan got hurt and to finish off the series is a pretty good feeling. We haven’t had this happen in Prince George for a long time, everybody is pretty pumped for it and I think the fans are too.”
“It’s going to be pretty exciting in the second round,” added Young.
The final moments of the first round, brought to you by Chase Wheatcroft 🤯 pic.twitter.com/f2n6XQGSCo
— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 10, 2023
Lukas Dragicevic, who was the Americans leading scorer in the regular season and a top prospect for the 2023 NHL Draft, was held to only four assists during the series.
Funk, on the other hand, who was acquired by the Cats from the Calgary Hitmen at the trade deadline, performed better than a point-per-game pace with seven points in six games – tied for the team lead with Caden Brown.
PG won the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series 4-2 and will play the Seattle Thunderbirds starting on Friday in Kent, Washington.
Games 3 and 4 will be April 18th and 19th from CN Centre.
To view the full series schedule, click here.