It’s fitting that after a nine-day break, the Prince George Cougars showed a little bit of everything this Thanksgiving Day long weekend against the Swift Current Broncos.
A bad case of turkey legs was followed up by a strong serving of fruit punch only to fall just shy of securing the whole pie.
Ty Meunier’s goal in the third round of the shootout capped off a 3-2 Broncos victory on Sunday afternoon in front of 3,559 fans at CN Centre.
Ty Meunier delivers in the shootout. 🚨
@SCBroncos https://t.co/ZFFVlxRFNr
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 11, 2026
At the end of a long and grueling, B.C. Division road trip, Swift Current emptied the gas tanks and pounced all over the rusty Cougars, escaping with a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Oliver Torkki opened the scoring for the Broncos at the 11:44 mark as a Colton Alain point shot was re-directed by the 18-year-old from Finland, which went over the shoulder of Cougars netminder Peyton Shore.
Party = STARTED! 🪩🕺
Oliver Torkki opens the scoring for the @SCBroncos! https://t.co/hRSz5F371m
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 11, 2026
Three minutes later, Brendan Rudolph did his best tight-rope act straddling the blue line before firing a shot through a maze of bodies that found its way past Shore for a 2-0 edge after 20 minutes outshooting the Cougars 10-3.
“I had great net front from my linemates, and the goalie couldn’t see so it was a good effort from them, and it went in, which was nice,” added Rudolph post-game with MyPGNow.com.
The Cougars came out firing on all cylinders in the second thanks to it its top line.
Right off the opening face-off, Jett Lajoie bulldozed his way into the Broncos zone and found a streaking Aiden Foster who made no mistake on Broncos netminder Cal Conway.
THAT WAS QUICK. ⚡🚨
Aiden Foster cuts the deficit to 1 in the opening minute of the 2nd!
@PGCougars | @TBLightning | #GoBolts https://t.co/RAEyoCw79r
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 11, 2026
However, what is often a blessing can be viewed as a curse. Foster’s aggressive prowess got him on the wrong side of the law a few minutes later as he cross checked Swift Current blueliner Jace McFaull who crashed violently into the boards.
Foster was issued a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game-misconduct. McFaull returned to action after a brief abscence.
Luckily, the Broncos were unable to seize the momentum, giving up more quality chances than they produced. The best one came on a 2-on-1 where Riley Ashe took a quick shot only to be denied by Conway’s catching glove.
ARE YOU SERIOUS, Cal Conway?! 😱
@SCBroncos https://t.co/UarZOPeuiK
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 11, 2026
The lengthy penalty kill proved to be the right tonic for the Cougars who slowly started to take over the game.
“It galvanized us. I thought we were playing our best hockey. The first period was sluggish, and you can’t put your finger on it. You have all that time off and you kind of expect that. You just have to keep working your way through it and we stuck with it.”
“Either way that is a turning point in the game and it was a huge kill, and we got a point out of it,” added Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager.
PG’s momentum carried them into the third, swarming Conway and the Broncos outshooting them 13-7. Dermot Johnson picked an excellent time to get his first WHL goal as his point-shot blasted past Conway for a 2-2 tie.
GRAB THAT PUCK!
Dermot Johnston has his first career goal, we have a tie game!
@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/FpEbJWsyzh
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 11, 2026
If not for Conway, the Cougars would have pulled off some master thievery on home ice after a flat start.
A 2-on-1 rush by PG was stymied by Conway as he robbed Tre Peck on a 2-on—1 transition rush. Conway then stoned Dmitri Yakutsenak, who was parked in the slot as time expired.
“You’re always happy when you are getting chances and it’s how you are playing. You could tell by the way we were playing in the second period we showed the way we have to play to have any sort of success. You don’t get the two points, but you judge it by how we played and it was a good game by us,” added Lamb.
Hulking import forward Stepan Farushev and Meunier lit the lamp in the shootout for the Broncos while replying for the Cougars was Tre Peck.
Prince George outshot Swift Current 32-26 but went 0-for-2 on the power-play while the Broncos went 0-for-1.
Conway made 30 saves in the win for the Broncos, claiming first star honours while Shore was the second star.
End result aside, here are a few more points to ponder from this afternoon’s cross-conference tilt:
Life without Levy
Sunday marked the first game since the Cougars placed import overage goaltender Alex Levshyn on waivers following the acquisition of towering blueliner Kolten Bridgeman from the Regina Pats who is also 20.
Levshyn who was uber-popular among the crowd and his teammates due to his affectious personality, last saw action for the Cougars on September 30th in a 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Giants where he surrendered three goals on 13 shots.
The night prior, Levshyn allowed five goals on 22 shots in an 8-0 thrashing against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Through three games, the Kharkiv, Ukraine product recorded a 4.66 goals against average and an .862 save percentage.
Last season, Levshyn went 11-9-2- with a 2.97 GAA followed by a .902 save percentage backing up San Jose Sharks first-rounder Josh Ravensbergen.
Lamb noted this is a part of the junior hockey business nobody enjoys.
“We tried to trade him and it just didn’t happen. In the summer we were always looking at a two-spotter (import and overager) and it’s hard to do, especially for a goalie in this league. Seeing what our personnel was it was part of the process and that is the decision that we made.”
“We think we can add another overage or an import if we get the chance to improve that spot.”
As for Bridgeman, the 6’5 blueliner brings with them a hard-to-play against demeanor along with over 170 games of WHL experience under his belt, all with the Regina Pats, prior to the Sunday matinee against the Broncos.
For someone who arrived in the northern capital Saturday evening, Lamb was quite pleased with what he saw.
“I thought he played excellently; you’re coming into your first game into a new system after a couple days of travelling. I thought he was excellent for us.” added Lamb.
Conway comes up clutch
It’s safe to say the Broncos don’t walk out of CN Centre with two points without Conway’s clutch 30-save outing.
The 19-year-old from Andover, Maryland was acquired by Swift Current from the Wenatchee Wild.
Before making the jump to the Western Hockey League (WHL), Conway built a massive reputation in the highly competitive Minnesota high school hockey circuit.
In 2025, he singlehandedly transformed the Stillwater High School program, posting a microscopic 1.43 GAA and a .934 save percentage to lead them to their first state championship final game in nearly a decade, earning All-State Tournament honors.
“I think on this road trip everyone is important. You only play these teams once so it’s good to get two points out of it and that is what we did tonight. It’s a gritty one but we found a way,” said Conway post-game.
Through nine games, Swift Current is 5-4-0-0 and among a cluster of teams in the Eastern Conference jockeying for position to be on the right side of the playoff line.
The Broncos went 3-3 to end their lengthy western swing collecting victories against PG, Penticton (3-2 in a shootout) and Vancouver (5-1 win).
Swift Current also experienced some brief valleys on the way, dropping a 5-4 decision to the Victoria Royals along with a 10-2 blowout loss to Kelowna followed by a 4-1 setback against the Kamloops Blazers.
Surprisingly, Conway sits 32nd overall among goaltenders according to WHL statistics with a 3.07 goals against average and .907 save percentage.
But Conway does lead all netminders in minutes (470), shots (268) and saves (244). He has suited up in eight of the team’s first nine games to date and is thriving under the heavy workload.
“It suits me. Lots of shots and you can find your game if it’s not there right away.”
“Being here in Swift has helped me a ton. It’s a great group of guys and we all show up to the rink in a positive attitude and put the work in. It’s fun to be around this group and when you are winning, it’s even more fun,” added Conway.
The road ahead
A nine-day hiatus coupled with Sunday’s shootout loss to the Broncos, the Cougars are off for another six days before hitting the road to Kelowna to battle against the Rockets on October 17th.
Lamb believes all the work done behind the scenes can pay dividends as the schedule gets more compact in the coming weeks.
“It’s all process. It is not so much about that next game, it’s about getting your mind, getting your body by lifting weights and hitting the gym – and that will pay off down the road when we are playing a lot of games.”
Puck drop is at 6:05 from Prospera Place. The Cougars’ next home dates are October 20th and 21st against the Vancouver Giants.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing pgnews@vistaradio.ca.
