The officials took control and never let go.
A boisterous CN Centre crowd of 5,385 strongly voiced their displeasure with key calls made by the referees Wednesday night as the Penticton Vees skated to a chaotic and penalty-filled 5-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars.
The best-of-7 WHL second round series is tied 2-2.
With the Cougars up 2-1 early in the second, the train started to roll off the tracks when Aiden Foster was assessed a five-minute major for elbowing and a game misconduct after catching an off-balance Callum Stone in the far Vees corner.
Ryden Evers evened the score at 2-2, on the five-minute power play, as he let a one-time shot go courtesy of a Samuel Drancak cross-ice feed that beat Cougars netminder Josh Ravensbergen.
Right on, Ryden! 🚨🔥
Ryden Evers cashes in on the powerplay to tie it up for the @PentictonVees!
📺| @victoryplustv
🔗| https://t.co/ejuFny1mnK@SeattleKraken | #SeaKraken | #FeedingtheFuture | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/dxLDEvlawf— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 16, 2026
The boo birds only got louder from the Cougar faithful as Riley Ashe appeared to be pushed into the Vees net (by defender Ethan Weber) and as a result Ashe made contact with Penticton goaltender AJ Reyelts.
Ashe was given a two-minute minor for interference.
Luckily for the Cougars, the PG penalty kill came through and also erased a Kaden Lemire hooking minor so the game remained tied after 40 minutes.
A highly controversial call at 14:10 of the third period (with the game still tied 2-2) drew more negative reaction from the crowd as Cougars defenceman Corbin Vaughan was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a check to the head on Evers.
Up in press row, the open ice hit looked like it was shoulder to chest and didn’t deserve the eventual outcome.
Less than a minute later, Penticton was given a lengthy 5-on-3 after Arsenii Anisimov flipped the puck out of play for delay of game.
Penticton made the Cougars pay as Vees Captain and first star Nolan Stevenson delivered a shot from just inside the point that beat Ravensbergen for a 3-2 lead.
That sent the raucous crowd into a frenzy throwing beer and other debris onto the ice multiple times forcing the officiating crew to stop the game and have the off-ice crew clean the playing surface.
He didn’t pick a corner, he claimed it. 🏒🎯
Nolan Stevenson cashes in on the powerplay to give the @PentictonVees the lead!
📺| @victoryplustv
🔗| https://t.co/ejuFny1mnK#FeedingtheFuture | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/bYtaCUuHOq— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 16, 2026
With frustration already boiled over Terik Parascak was given a 10-minute misconduct and Lemire was dealt a bench minor, keeping the Vees on a lengthy 5-on-3 man-advantage.
To rub more salt into the open wound, Weber made it 4-2 Vees with just 2 1/2 minutes left in the third. Brady Birnie finished off the scoring for Penticton with 51 seconds remaining on yet another power play.
In what seemed like an eternity, Penticton struck first in Game 4 as a Louis Wehmann shot beat Ravensbergen on the short side.
Kooper Gizowski evened the score on a power play (with Fort St James product Diego Johnson of the Vees in the box for checking from behind) with his signature one-timer past Reyelts giving the CN Centre crowd something to cheer about.
Twelve seconds later, some sloppy defense from the Vees allowed Lee Shurgot to walk inside the blueline and flick a shot past Reyelts for a 2-1 Cougars edge after 20 minutes.
Gizowski on the powerplay, Shurgot 12 seconds later. One down to one up 😎@CarlsJrCA pic.twitter.com/zxGInq64D5
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 16, 2026
Penticton outshot the Cougars 35-29 and went 4-for-8 on the power-play (two of those power play goals were 5-on-3) while the Cats went 1-for-3.
Evers finished the game with a goal and two assists, collecting the game’s second star while New York Islanders prospect Jacob Kvasnicka tallied two assists.
Game 5 is slated for Friday at 7:05pm from the South Okanagan Events Centre.
With the loss, the Cougars will play Game Six Sunday at 7pm from CN Centre.
So far, the road team has won all four games.
One of the games of all time.#RightHereRightNow . #WHLPlayoofs pic.twitter.com/8dj8mlh2pq
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 16, 2026
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