Not even climate change could cool off the trio of Zac Funk, Carlin Dezainde and Borya Valis.
Though Funk and Valis put up a combined five assists, it was Dezainde who was first star material Friday night, potting hat-trick in a convincing 5-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets in front of 2,820 fans at CN Centre.
🎥 HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT 🎥
This new Cougars line has found some magic 🪄@PGCougars | #WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/y7sgwrrkOs
— The WHL (@TheWHL) January 13, 2024
The so-called second line came out of the gate like gangbusters as Dezainde punched home his ninth of the season at 2:49 of the first period, digging home a loose puck Kelowna netminder Jari Kykkanen wasn’t able to track down.
Fitting to the frigid weather we’ve seen in Prince George over the past week, the Rockets were snowed under by a relentless Cougars attack in the opening shifts of the game – so much so that Rockets head coach Kris Mallette called a time out prior to the five-minute mark.
His 30-second jaw-jacking session seemed to have paid initial dividends as Andrew Cristall and Hiroki Gojsic gave the visitors a 2-1 edge.
After what seemed to be a lull in the Cougars game, gritty rookie Aiden Foster got the crowd on its feet dropping the gloves with Rockets hulking menace Ethan Neutans.
PG seemed to wake up from its bad dream shortly after as Oren Shtrom’s initial shot was stopped by Kykkanen but boomeranged back to the 19-year-old from Gilbert, Arizona who made no mistake on the rebound, evening the score at 2-2 after 20 minutes.
Snipe ✅
Celly ✅✅✅ https://t.co/ylZyhsfLeb pic.twitter.com/zuQn8aoX9n— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 13, 2024
In the second, Dezainde picked up right where he left off accepting another Valis feed on a transition 2-on-1, wiring a hard slapper past a sprawled out Kykkanen who was at the forward’s mercy.
“We had a good night when we were put together in Portland. Us being together tonight, Valis was going, Funker was going, and we played hard and found the back of the net.” added Dezainde.
After going scoreless in his first three games back from injury, Dezainde has tallied 13 points in his last 10 outings. Like riding a bike, Dezainde is returning to his early season form.
“I tried to comeback when I was ready. I thought I did and started a little slow, but I am trying to get better every game and work on things. To get a hat-trick and get rewarded is a special feeling.’
Three minutes later, a tripping penalty by Gojsic put the Cougars on the power-play where Hudson Thornton ripped a point blast in the Kelowna mesh extending the advantage to 4-2 after 40 minutes.
There goes the franchise leader in d-man goals again https://t.co/x9M7RvtD1t pic.twitter.com/VUPyvP2cWo
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 13, 2024
Dezainde completed his hat-trick at 5:17 of the third from who else but Valis putting the final nail in the Rockets coffin.
Prince George outshot Kelowna 35-27 and went 1-for-3 on the power-play.
Ty Young made 25 saves in the Cougars net – since returning from the Christmas break, the 19-year-old has gone 4-1-0-0 in his last five starts, giving up two or fewer in four of those games.
The lone blemish was allowing three goals on 35 shots in a defeat to the Everett Silvertips on Sunday to complete a grueling three-game-three-day road swing through the vaunted US Division.
Who’s better than Valis?
There aren’t too many players who are on a bigger tear than Valis right now. The 19-year-old from Colorado is on a 15-game-point streak and since dawning a Cougars jersey, he has amassed 10 points in five contests.
“We play a fast-paced game. We know how to score; we know how to make plays and the way we communicate on the ice with the connection we have is solid.” Valis said postgame to MyPGNow.com.
Valis was acquired before the WHL Trade Deadline from the Regina Pats in exchange for 17-year-old defenseman Tyson Buczkowski, a third-round pick in 2026 and a fourth rounder in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft.
“I know how to play. I am not getting into my head and just think positively. I think the coach is doing a great job with situational awareness, giving us a lot of freedom to play out there and it’s been awesome.”
“I am on one of the best teams in the league, so I must perform well. Lamber believed in me by trading for me so I must play up to my expectations.”
Beginning on the blueline
After Kelowna tallied 14 shots in the first period, the Cougars smothered Cristall, Luke Schelter and Gabriel Szturc like a blanket, only allowing 13 pucks to find their way on goal the remaining two periods.
Cougars associate coach Jim Playfair noted a few minor adjustments to take away time and space ended up being a big key as well as their team discipline.
“I think the big thing we talked about after the first period was getting our team to work as five guys together back to the middle of the ice. I think we turned a lot of pucks over late in the first period by making fancy plays, extra passes and I think we tried to simplify. We did that in the second and third periods – when our team stays out of the penalty box we have a really good mindset of playing straight north to the puck and getting by the defenseman – when we do that we are in good shape.”
The Cougars move to 29-12-0-0 on the campaign, while Kelowna drops to 19-18-2-0. In addition, the Cats continue to sit first in the Western Conference, five points up on the Portland Winterhawks who dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday.
Playfair believes the Cougars winning habits up to this point are anything but an overnight success.
“When you look at the job Mark has done over the course of time to get the group organized and believing, what has happened now is the whole organization where the Europeans are coming in to be impact players, the older aged players are impact players and the players coming in are impact players. I think the whole cultural shift has helped everybody believe that we are supposed to be a winning organization. Players who come from other teams thrive here expect to be part of a good team and that is a big change – we are taking advantage of that and now is the window we are supposed to win. It’s a good time to be a Prince George Cougar.”
PG and the Rockets lock horns again tonight (Saturday) at 6:00 from CN Centre.