It was a climactic night for Marc Habscheid and Patrick Sopiarz.
Unfortunately, it came at the expense of the Prince George Cougars.
Sopiarz made a triumphant return to the CN Centre scoring the game-winning goal with 3:03 remaining in the third period to give the Red Deer Rebels a 3-2 victory in front of a paltry crowd of 2,954 fans.
Clutching up! pic.twitter.com/fIny97NdrB
— Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) February 4, 2026
The 17-year-old’s perimeter shot deflected off the stick of PG blueliner Corbin Vaughan and past goaltender Alex Levshyn.
Sopiarz who was dealt to the Rebels in December for a third-round pick in 2026 and a conditional fourth rounder in 2029 is thriving in Central Alberta, playing on the top line alongside Beckett Hamilton and Owen DeWitt.
The Edmonton native has accumulated eight points in 21 games, including 20 penalty minutes.
He told MyPGNow.com post-game, the belief from the coaching staff has been incredible and is also thankful for his start in Prince George.
“It’s always been in me and I mean, it’s too bad that the Cougars, had such a deep team. I understood my role, but it’s, it feels really good to kind of you know, flourish into that player that I know, I always have been. I mean, I am just super grateful. I think the biggest thing is gratitude.”
“This place is where I grew up and I really matured, nothing but good things. Obviously, it feels good to get one and and end the game. I grew so much as a player here and just super grateful for my time.”
The dramatic win also marked the 600th WHL head coaching win for Habscheid who was given a Gatorade shower along with a chef’s apron and pink hard hat for the milestone.
Red Deer underwent a quick re-tool at the deadline where their roster now comprises 16 players born in either 2007 or 2008.
Habscheid mentioned post-game the B.C. road swing has been tough on his young squad.
But, he gave his players full marks on the way they battled against an older team looking to make a deep run.
“This is the end of a road trip and we had all sorts of excuses. They are a great team this is very well coached they are my buddies over there and our guys played their ass off and found a way to win.”
“We know, we’re young, but we’re going to make mistakes. We can control what we can control, and that’s our work ethic and our commitment to play together as a group. And then when we do, good things happen.”
Cameron Kuzma opened the scoring for the Rebels at 16:40 of the first period as he curled and dragged past Cougars defenceman Arsenii Anisimov, blasting a shot past the shoulder of Levshyn for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second, the tide started to turn for the Cougars capitalizing on a string of Rebel penalties.
Brock Souch buried his 17th of the season past Red Deer netminder Matthew Kondro.
A pass across from Kooper Gizowski found the blade of the 19-year-old who re-directed it into the yawning cage while on the man-advantage.
The league’s top powerplay does it again 😼@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/A2SuzmLjFL pic.twitter.com/07zF9ne43K
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 4, 2026
Two minutes later, Carson Carels continued his offensive hot streak blasting the puck into another stratosphere past Kondro to give the Cougars their only lead of the contest.
Carels is on a 13-game point streak including six points in his last two games.
A 13 game point streak and 6 points in his last two games, stay hot Carson Carels!#NHLDraft | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/p46MTmcTgq pic.twitter.com/fpBNd2JVno
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 4, 2026
Poul Anderson got the Rebels back on even terms as he deflected a point blast by former Cats blueliner Aleksey Chichkin tying the score at 2-2
It looked as if the Cougars were well on their way to getting their mojo back against the youthful visitors from Alberta when disaster struck.
Gizowski took an ill-advised kneeing major after decking Hamilton away from the puck near centre ice, ejecting him from the game.
While the Cougars did kill it off, Red Deer continued to fight back.
Terik Parascak slithered past a check of a Rebels defender and found Aiden Foster who was stymied by Kondro right in the slot at the mid-way point of the third.
Moments later, Anisimov pinched at the Red Deer blueline, unleashing a slap shot that caught iron.
The Cougars outshot Red Deer 29-26 and went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Red Deer was 1-for-4.
Kondro was named the game’s first star after making 27 saves. Levshyn stopped 23 Red Deer pucks in defeat.
With the costly loss, Prince George (29-18-2-0) remains nine points back of the Penticton Vees for top spot in the B.C. Division – the Vees have a game in hand.
To make matters worse, the Kamloops Blazers (24-15-6-4) pulled within two points of the Cougars for third in the Western Conference after an 11-1 schneidering of the Victoria Royals.
Both teams play again today (Wednesday) on Vancouver Island.
Red Deer (18-27-2-2) on the other hand, is right in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, jumping two points ahead of the Regina Pats for the eighth and final rung on the ladder.
PG continues its four-game homestand with Indigenous Weekend on tap at CN Centre Friday (7pm) and Saturday (6pm) against the Memorial Cup hosts the Kelowna Rockets.
Kelowna (25-16-5-2) fell 4-3 in overtime against the Portland Winterhawks at Prospera Place and sits three points back of the Cats.
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