Nine seconds is all it took for the dynamic duo of Koehn Ziemmer and Riley Heidt to put their stamp on an important divisional game.
Both players had two goals and two assists each in a 5-0 Prince George Cougars victory over the Vancouver Giants on Tuesday in front of 2,324 fans at CN Centre.
The first nine seconds have gone exactly according to plan.@LAKings #GoKingsGo https://t.co/wenwJD0EpS pic.twitter.com/Y0MZFkMhjT
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 15, 2023
Ziemmer scored on the game’s opening shot rifling a blast over the glove of Giants goaltender Brett Mirwald. Heidt entered the slot eventually finding the Los Angeles Kings top prospect on what looked to be an easy set up.
The 19-year-old from Mayerthorpe, Alberta continued his early game hot streak accepting a Heidt pass from the far corner – after whiffing on his opening shot attempt – Ziemmer had the prescence of mind to bat the puck out of the air with his stick, handcuffing Mirwald and extending the Cougars lead to 2-0.
“They had it going tonight, and I think it’s a really good thing because I didn’t we had a lot of players going. It’s a sign of a good team when you can have a line like that and come out and have a good offensive output, they win the game 5-0 when you don’t have everybody going,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach/general manager.
“I thought Red Deer played us a lot harder. They skated a lot harder and I thought this game was kind of dead. We didn’t have a lot of action going or four lines going there just wasn’t a lot of pizzazz in the game except for that one line.”
In the second, it was Heidt who would become the beneficiary of some Ziemmer passing. At the 1:30 mark, the native of Saskatoon drove hard to the net and tapped home a Ziemmer feed past a sprawled out Mirwald.
Eight minutes later, following a Adam Titlbach holding infraction, Heidt found himself just outside the faceoff circle where he sent the puck into orbit on a vicious one-timer set up by Ziemmer making it 4-0 after two periods.
There have been four goals scored in Prince George tonight.
1. Ziemmer from Heidt
2. Ziemmer from Heidt
3. Heidt from Ziemmer
4. Heidt from ZiemmerAll in all, an average night for these two.@mnwild #mnwild @LAKings #GoKingsGo https://t.co/u4JFi27NJK pic.twitter.com/OgrMuN3Enh
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 15, 2023
Hunter Laing put the exclamation mark on the game in the third with a sweet display of stickhandling, outwaiting three Giants players including Mirwald – all the 6’6 winger had to do was tuck the puck inside the post for his 3rd of the season.
“That goal he scored tonight is typical of what Lainger can do. He’ll get a little more confidence and want to do more of that.”
Hunter Laing: 6’6 and smooth as silk 😎#NHLDraft https://t.co/OM9Oqpe2YW pic.twitter.com/f8DDMqSyZM
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 15, 2023
Overall, Vancouver outshot Prince George 32-27. The Cougars went 1-for-7 on the power-play while the Giants were 0-for-3.
Ty Young was stellar inside the Cougars crease collecting his 2nd career shutout in the WHL. Many of his saves were of the Grade A variety against Connor Dale and Ty Halaburda (Vancouver), especially in the the first period where PG was outshot 13-6.
“Younger was outstanding. He is a good goalie and we have seen it enough and am not surprised when he comes out and plays like that,” said Lamb.
🎥 SAVE OF THE NIGHT 🎥
Young Money.@PGCougars | @Canucks@RealCdnSS | #SaveoftheNight pic.twitter.com/RtehnstpCE
— The WHL (@TheWHL) November 15, 2023
During a stoppage in the first period, the Cougars showed a touch of class honouring local product and Vancouver rookie forward Cameron Schmidt who scored the game-winning goal for Canada at the recently completed World U-17 Hockey Challenge from Prince Edward Island to capture a gold medal.
Schmidt, who was taken seventh overall by the Giants in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft has eight points in 11 games this season.
PG (14-5-0-0-) looks to complete the mid-week double header sweep tonight (Wednesday) against Vancouver (7-11-1-0). Puck drop is at 7:00 from CN Centre.
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