The Prince George Cougars got back to work Friday night in Victoria after a week-long holiday and showed their division rivals they’re not willing to let go of the grip on first place.
They edged the Victoria Royals 2-1 in a shootout
Koehn Ziemmer scored the only goal of the shootout, a spectacular one-handed deke in the second round that fooled Royals goalie Jayden Kraus.
Then it was up to Cougars goalie Josh Ravensbergen to do the rest.
He denied any shootout celebrations on the Royals bench, making successive saves off Cole Reschny and Keaton Verhoeff to send the pro-Victoria crowd of 3,323 home disappointed.
Ravensbergen, the game’s first star, stopped 28 of 29 shots to improve to his season record to 17-4-3-1.
Riley Heidt scored the Cougars goal in regulation, 10:33 into the game, forcing a turnover that set up a 2-on-0 break. With Terik Parascak as the decoy, Heidt slipped the puck through the legs of goalie Jayden Kraus. It was Heidt's 100th career WHL goal.
That lead stood up until 43 seconds into the second period , when Royals defenceman Seth Fryer took advantage of delayed penalty to slip a shot in behind Ravensbergen
As the road team the Cougars were working on one practice since the Christmas break and got better as the game progressed, outshooting the Royals 12-6 in the third period and 4-2 in overtime.
The Cougars (19-9-3-2) have won six of their last seven games. They’re now four points up on the Royals (17-11-3-2, second in BC Division).
The same teams meet in a rematch at Save-On Memorial Arena Saturday (6:05 p.m. start, 94.3 FM The Goat). The Cougars will also travel to Kent, Wash., for a Tuesday game against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Cats return to CN Centre for a return engagement with the T-birds in a weekend doubleheader Jan. 3-4.
