It was a tight, physical game right until the end, but the Prince George Cougars dropped a 4-3 decision to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
“We got chasing the game a little bit but we got back in it, it was a hard fought game by both teams,” said Cougars Head Coach and GM Mark Lamb on the post-game show on 94.3 the Goat.
Coming off a 6-3 loss at the hands of the Cats on Friday, Seattle looked hungry to get the win in front of 3,551 fans at the CN Centre.
“We had a lot of good things, we scored a couple on our powerplay, they got one, you know [Braeden] Cootes is a special player and he had a big game, and [Radim] Mrtka makes a big difference on their team,” Lamb said.
Cootes, who played three regular season games for the Vancouver Canucks before being sent back to the T-Birds this season, was sensational for Seattle, scoring twice and adding an assist.
Much like the night before, Seattle struck early, with Brendan Rudolph taking a feed from Cootes and beating Alexander Levshyn with a backhand shot 4:07 into the first.
Mrtka 🤝 Cootes 🤝 Rudolph@SeattleTbirds pic.twitter.com/Nsz1MaRi6N
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 26, 2025
Cootes got his first on the night and the year on the powerplay 13:37 into the game, putting a perfect wrist shot past Levshyn.
Captain Cootes is SO back! 🫡@SeattleTbirds I @Canucks I #Canucks pic.twitter.com/1X82NXvYzD
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 26, 2025
Terik Parascak got the Cougars on the board, making a couple of nifty moves and putting a backhand past Grayson Malinoski towards the tail end of the period.
For anyone counting, that’s 10 points for Perry in his last four games 😯@Capitals | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/lU3wYtM8dS pic.twitter.com/mSGLzx7JzF
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 26, 2025
Brock Souch picked up an assist on Parascak’s goal, extending his point streak to 12 games.
Shortly before the end of the first period, Levshyn left the game with an injury after making 8 saves on ten shots. Josh Ravensbergen entered the game in relief.
“He tweaked something, he tried to fight through it, but he couldn’t go,” Lamb said.
In the middle frame, Jett Lajoie evened things up after Kayden Lemire fed him a pass in front of a wide open net.
UPDATE: the powerplay is still lethal.@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/ALy0gpqgno pic.twitter.com/XDqQjtHsHc
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 26, 2025
Seattle seized a late second period lead, with Cootes taking a misplayed puck and putting another perfect shot past Ravensbergen.
Braeden Cootes left all alone = Goal # 2️⃣ 🚨@SeattleTbirds I @Canucks I #Canucks pic.twitter.com/132KDEE8Xb
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 26, 2025
Early in the third, Kooper Gizowski tied things up, taking a slick feed from Parascak and putting the puck past Malinoski and extending his point streak to 12 games.
Gizowski’s point streak hits 12 games, and Parascak has his 11th point in his last four!@Capitals | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/xXZAzKYWOK pic.twitter.com/jGxnAztgNf
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 26, 2025
Sawyer Mayes scored the eventual winner with 3:55 to go, on a goal that was reviewed.
Sawyer Mayes with the go-ahead goal for @SeattleTbirds 🙌 pic.twitter.com/v3M3QuDJRi
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 26, 2025
With 0.2 seconds on the clock after an icing call, the Cougars came close to tying the game, just missing a faceoff play.
After the final horn, some words that were probably not so friendly were exchanged, and both teams received a pair of roughing minor penalties.
The box score is here.
The Cougars (8-4-0-0) are on top of the WHL’s BC Division.
The WHL standings are here.
The Cougars go on the road for their next six, starting in Portland Friday.
The full Cougars schedule is here.
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