KENT, WASH. – The Prince George Cougars are heading into the new year happy campers after defeating the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-4 Tuesday at Accesso ShoWare Center – their fifth consecutive win to improve to 21-9-3-2.
The Cougars jumped to an early lead in the opening frame when Evan Groening took the puck off a Seattle turnover and jammed in his fourth goal of the season at 2:37. Seattle tied the game at 5:58, but the Cats responded just over five minutes later. Patrick Sopiarz fired a wrist shot through traffic at the left circle and past Scott Ratzlaff for his first WHL goal to give PG the lead. Riley Heidt then added two of his own in the period, scoring both markers on an odd man rush with Terik Parascak. The Thunderbirds netted a late power-play marker at 17:49 to make it 4-2 Prince George through the opening 20 minutes.
In the second, Aiden Foster extended the Cougars' lead to 5-2 at 6:56 off a tremendous pass from Heidt. After out-shooting Seattle 8-1 in the opening nine minutes of the second, the T-Birds found a spark and scored a pair of goals in quick succession at 11:50 and 13:17 to make it 5-4 and force the Cats to take their 30-second timeout. The Cougars took a 5-4 lead to the dressing room through 40 minutes.
In the third, the Cougars simplified things and were able to hold the fort in the final 20 minutes and end up getting rewarded with a Terik Parascak empty-netter at 19:33.
Cooper Michaluk stopped 27 of 31 shots to earn his fourth WHL win this season. Scott Ratzlaff took the loss in net for the T-birds, who were outshot 37-31.
With two goals in the game, Heidt moved to fourth all-time in PG Cougars history in goal scoring (102 goals). He surpasses alumnus Chris Falloon (100) and is closing in on Chase Witala's record of 120. Heidt now has 323 points in 248 career WHL games, more than any other Cougar in the team's 31-year Prince George history.
The Cougars remain first in the BC Division and will host the T-birds Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (6 p.m.) at CN Centre. Seattle (11-22-2-1, last in Western Conference) has lost five straight.
