How good are these Prince George Cougars?
Good enough to sit on the WHL throne as Western Conference regular season champions.
They applied that icing to the cake Saturday night at CN Centre with a 5-2 win over the Kamloops Blazers, fittingly in front of a record-breaking crowd of 6,029.
This has already been a season of shattered records for the Cats, who set team standards for wins (49) and points (103) in a season and their victory over the Blazers locked up first place in the West, the first time in the history of the Prince George franchise that's ever been accomplished.
“It feels amazing, I’m so proud of the group in there,” said Cougars captain Hudson Thornton. “We earned it, it’s been a long season and we’ve worked so hard from the beginning of the year to get to where we are now. We knew coming into this year we had a team that had the potential to do something like this and we knew it was going to take a lot of hard work and we executed that.
“First in B.C. and first in the Western Conference, we can’t complain. Good teams have good depth and we don’t rely on just one person to score goals and when you have natural goalscorers like Funk, with 67 goals, that obviously helps and we have four or five 20-goal scorers too, and the best fourth line in the league.
“We also got six really good D and two really good goalies. It’s a recipe for success.”
The Cougars start the playoffs next Friday at home against the Spokane Chiefs and if they keep winning they’ll have home-ice advantage for at least the first three playoff rounds. The fans gave the Cougars goose bumps with a standing ovation in the final minute.
“We knew the crowd was going to be pretty good but we didn’t expect it to be as good as it was and it was important for us to experience kind of what it’s going to be like in playoffs,” said Thornton. “We’re just so excited to get back and play in front of those fans again. When the CN is packed it’s the best place to play in the league and we have the best fans in the league and we’re looking forward to it.”
On the day he signed an NHL contract with the Minnesota Wild, Riley Heidt’s picked an opportune time to deliver his first hat trick of the season and second of his career. It was the perfect capper for a team that heads into the playoffs on an 17-0-1-1 roll.
Heidt’s back-to-back goals 2:16 apart in the second period kickstarted the Cougar offence and ignited the fans.
First, Funk spotted Heidt breaking into open ice on the right side and fed him a saucer pass that sent him into the clear at full flight and he ripped a low shot to the far side behind Jesse Sanche.
Then right after a Cougars’ power play, Ondrej Becher gained possession of the puck and fed a shot-pass into the deep slot that hit the blade of Heidt’s stick for a perfect deflection and a 2-1 lead.
“That goalie’s got our number a bit this year but once we got one it just seemed to follow it a bit and it’s just nice to be back here with this kind of crowd and end the year off right,” said Heidt. “The points were massive for us, clinched home ice for us and that’s huge for us and we’re proud of it."
Sheer determination on the part of Funk and Keaton Dohaniuk, who pressured the Blazers to cough up the puck, led to Heidt’s third of the game. With nine minutes left, Funk put it into turbo to create the turnover in the Cougars' end and his bullet pass caught Heidt at full flight for a breakaway deek he deposited into the net through Sanche’s legs.
“He was coming off that contract so I knew he was in for a big one and I gave him the puck there and he’s great in tight, he can make things happen and obviously he’s a heck of a goalscorer,” said the 20-year-old Funk.
“This (Western Conference banner) means everything to us, the work we put in on and off the ice all year, it goes to show how good of a team we have. Just getting that reward at the end of the year, having a successful year like this, it’s awesome.”
Funk and Heidt were reunited on a line with Koehn Ziemmer, in his second game back from an ankle injury, and they showed some of the chemistry that made them such a deadly trio earlier in the season.
The Blazers started the third period with a minute left of carryover time on a power play and just after the penalty expired Tommy Lafreniere dug the puck out of the corner and centred the puck through the crease where Ashton Ferster was waiting for a high tip-in over the shoulder of Joshua Ravensbergen.
Ferster, one of three Blazer 20-year-olds playing in his last junior hockey game, opened the scoring early in the second period with a similar close-range high deflection and with a similar tip-in tied the game 2-2 early in the third period.
Becher replied four minutes later with the gamewinner, jumping on a loose rebound in the crease after Sanche tried to catch Dowhaniuk’s long shot from along the boards. Becher heads into playoffs on an 18-game point streak.
Borya Valis capped the scoring late after a face-off win from linemate Matteo Danis.
Ravensbergen was denied of his chance to set the WHL record for shutouts by a rookie but he blanked six teams to tie the league record he now shares with several other netminders. He finishes the season with an impressive 26-4-1-1 record.
The Cougars’ other super rookie, winger Terik Parascak, was held off the scoresheet but still finished with 43 goals and a 105 points.
Funk, who had a pair of assists, finished the season with 67 goals and 123 points, both Cougar season records.
He started the game tied with Jagger Firkus of the Moose Jaw Warriors atop the WHL scoring race and picked but Firkus was on fire in the Warriors’ season finale against the Regina Pats and had a five-point night with three goals and two assists in an 11-1 rout. Firkus will get his name on the Bob Clarke Trophy as the scoring champion.
LOOSE PUCKS: Before the game, Cougars president John Pateman presented Thornton, Funk and defenceman Chase Pauls with a plaque to thank them for their services as the graduating 20-year-olds… Logan Bairos and Blake Swetlikoff are the other two Blazers overagers who played their last game Saturday…The Cougar crowd saluted Blazers equipment manager Colin ”Toledo” Robinson, who is retiring after 2,938 regular season games over 29 years with the team…. The Mega 50-50 draw in support of the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation went over $177,000, meaning one lucky fan will go home with a cheque for $88,000… The Cougars will also host Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Saturday before it switches to Spokane for the next two games on Tuesday, April 2, and Wednesday, April 3. If Game 5 is needed, that would be played in Spokane that Friday, with Games 6 and 7, if needed, on Prince George ice on Monday, April 8 and Wednesday, April 10.
Saturday WHL summary
Blazers 2 at Cougars 5
First Period
No scoring.
Penalties – Lafreniere Kam (tripping) 8:40, Valis PG (goaltender interference) 19:05.
Second Period
1. Kamloops, Ferster 18 (Lafreniere, Keller) 6:31
2. Prince George, Heidt 35 (Funk, Dumanski) 11:35
3. Prince George, Heidt 36 (Becher, Thornton) 13:51
Penalties – Vochvest Kam (roughing), Heidt PG (slashing) 7:24, Underline Kam (interference) 11:47, Bairos Kam (hooking) 15:51, Foster PG (tripping) 18:58.
Third Period
4. Kamloops, Ferster 19 (Lafreniere, Behm) 1:02
5. Prince George, Becher 32 (Dowhaniuk) 5:29
6. Prince George, Heidt 37 (Funk) 11:15
7. Prince George, Valis 26 (Danis) 16:52
Penalties – None.
Shots on goal by
Kamloops 11 7 11 --29
Prince George 12 13 14 -39
Goal – Kamloops, Sanche (L,6-17-1-0); Prince George, Ravensbergen (W,26-4-1-1).
Power plays – Kam: 0-2; PG: 0-3.
Referees – Josh Albinati, Nick Panter; Linesmen – Tyler Garden, Anthony Maletta.
Attendance – 6,029.
