The Prince George Cougars scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Kamloops Blazers 4-2 Saturday night in Kamloops.
Koehn Ziemmer’s power-play goal at the 9:21 mark of the third period gave the visiting Prince George Cougars the lead and Riley Heidt iced it with an empty-net goal with just two second left.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Cougars (35-19-4-2), who remain fourth in the WHL’s Western Conference.
The Cats managed just three shots on goal in the second period but scored on two of them.
They tied the game 18:16 into the second period on a breakaway and Jett Lajoie passed to Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Borya Valis, who found the net behind Dylan Ernst for his 30th goal of the season.
The Cougars got on the scoreboard six minutes earlier on a delayed penalty when Terik Parascak scored his 27th.
Cooper Michaluk, the first star, made 31 saves to notch the win in net for the Cougar nets to improve to 6-8-1-1. Outshot 15-3 in the second period, the Cougars gave Michaluk better support in the third period in which they held a 16-8 in shots.
Connor Radke, midway through the first period, and Beau Courtney, early in the second period, were the Kamloops goalscorers.
“Give them credit, they put on a good game tonight,” said Cougars associated coach Jim Playfair, in the postgame broadcast. “I didn’t like either one of the goals against but I thought that that first period for us was excellent and I thought we were a little frustrated in the second, we couldn’t get ourselves connected to take care of pucks in our zone and it felt like we played on our heels for the majority of the period.
“We got that (goal) late and that kind of gave a little bit of juice and we came out in the third period. Really, if you look at it, our third periods have been excellent all season. We did a good job, got organized and the power play got a big goal for us and then we got the empty-net goal, certainly from really good defending.”
Prince George defenceman Viliam Kmec had three assists and was named the game’s third star.
The Cougars will get a day off before they head to Wenatchee on Monday to face the Wild on Wednesday and Friday. The Cougars will also play in Everett on Saturday and Vancouver on the following Sunday.
The Cougars remain five points behind the Victoria Royals, who lead the BC Division. Victoria skated to a 4-3 win on home ice Saturday over the Portland Winterhawks.
Earlier in the day the Cougars announced the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Valis to a three-year entry-level contract. Playfair, a former Calgary Flames head coach, phoned Leafs GM Brad Treliving to recommend Valis and Treliving’s special assistant Shane Doan came to Prince George to watch him play, which led to the contract offer.
“I want to thank my family, billet families, coaches, Gold Star Hockey, my teammates, and friends for all of their support and their help throughout my life,” said Valis, in a team release. “This is a dream come true.”
His goal on Saturday gave him 30 for the season and he has 74 points in 57 games.
A week ago, the Denver, Colo., native became the Cougars’ all-time franchise leader for points in a season by an American-born player. In 90 games over his career in Prince George he has 43 goals and 111 points. He was acquired in a trade from the Regina Pats last year close to the trade deadline.
“Val has earned this contract,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “He came here with a mindset to get better every day and have an open mindset on trusting the process and coaching. He's a great example of what it takes to be a pro. I'm very proud of Val on his accomplishment and I'm excited about what his promising future holds.”
