The last time the Prince George Cougars swept an opponent in the playoffs, Riley Heidt was two years old.
The Cats are off to the second round of the WHL Playoffs for the second straight year, disposing of the Spokane Chiefs in four straight games.
The series wrapped up Wednesday night in Spokane, the Cougars topped the Chiefs 3-2 in front of 3434 fans.
Nothing but respect, @spokanechiefs ❤️💙
You have an extremely talented young team and there is no doubt that the best is yet to come. pic.twitter.com/RhoPm3vYpJ
— xy – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 4, 2024
Prince George never trailed enjoying period leads of 2-1 and 3-2.
The Cougars and goalie Ty Young held on to their lead for the final 20 minutes, though Spokane outshot the Cats 9-6 in the frame, fighting to keep its season alive.
Zac Funk scored the eventual game winning goal midway through the second period at 11:27 while on the powerplay – his third goal of the playoffs and 70th total goal of the 2023-24 campaign.
(Funk extended his point streak to 19 games while Ondrej Becher had an assist to stretch his point streak to 23 games)
Less than two minutes before the Funk tally, Koehn Ziemmer netted his first goal since returning to the team from injury.
Ziemmer's first goal since returning from injury!!!
We missed this SO MUCH 😍@LAKings #GoKingsGo https://t.co/oz1X7SNxgA pic.twitter.com/vRrjaVkfGm
— xy – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 4, 2024
Viliam Kmec had the Cougars first goal of the game halfway through the first period.
Connor Roulette scored both of Spokane’s goals, once to tie the game at 1 early in the second, then to cut the Cougars’ lead to 3-2 shortly after Funk’s tally.
Young made 30 saves on 32 shots for the Cougars in his first start of the postseason – the Chiefs outshot Prince George 32-31.
Prince George was 1/3 on the powerplay and 3/3 on the penalty kill.
The Cougars had not swept an opponent in the playoffs since the 2007 postseason when they beat the Kamloops Blazers in four games as a 7th place team.
The @PGCougars are heading back to the Western Conference Semi-Final!#WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingtheFuture
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 4, 2024
The Cougars advance to the second round of the playoffs which will begin on Friday, April 12th.
Tickets go on sale at 11 AM today (Thursday) for the first two games.
Their second round opponent is to be determined – one of either Kelowna, Wenatchee, or Vancouver.
If the Giants beat the Everett Silvertips in their 3 vs 6 series, Prince George will face the Giants. Otherwise, they will play the winner of the Kelowna vs Wenatchee series.
Everett leads Vancouver 2-1 in its series after a 3-1 win in Langley Wednesday.
After losing game one, the Rockets now lead Wenatchee 3-1 in their series, winning 3-1 Wednesday.
The 2nd place Portland Winterhawks – who finished just one point behind the Cougars in the regular season – also completed a sweep of the Victoria Royals, they will also advance to the second round.
You can find the Cougars-Chiefs boxscore here.
Round One of the #WHLPlayoffs comes to a close for a handful of our clubs. #WHLScores pic.twitter.com/gome3fZzVa
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 4, 2024