The Prince George Cougars shared the wealth around the Medicine Hat Tigers’ net and eight goalscorers lit the lamp in an 8-1 victory Wednesday night.
Cougar captain Riley Heidt got in on the scoring action late in the game to complete his Gordie Howe hat trick.
The Cougars were getting outshot 10-2 by the Tigers five minutes into the game when Heidt was invited to drop the gloves with Medicine Hat captain Oasiz Wiesblatt and that served as the wake-up call the Cougars needed to switch the momentum.
Matteo Danis and Jett Lajoie, on a power play, scored to make it a 2-0 game before the intermission. After Medicine Hat shooter Schaefer Gordon-Carroll found the net behind Josh Ravensbergen early in the second period it was all Cougars the rest of the way.
Borya Valis and Terik Parascak added two more on power plays for a 4-1 lead heading into the third period. Hunter Laing, Kayden Lemire (with the first of his WHL career, Heidt and Evan Groening also scored in final frame.
Heidt also drew two assists while earning first star honours.
Ravensbergen was solid throughout as the game’s second star, making 33 saves to improve his record to 6-0-2-1.
Lemire’s goal chased Tiger goalie Harrison Meneghin from the game after facing 25 shots and Ethan McCallum took over midway through the third and stopped flour of six shots in 10:30 of a game action.
The Cougars went 3-for-7 on the power play and successfully killed off all four Tiger opportunities.
Prince George improved to 6-3-2-1 atop the BC Division standings, while Medicine Hat dropped to 4-5-0-0, third in the Central Division.
The Cougars will finish off their three-game Alberta tour with a game Friday in Lethbridge (6 p.m. PT, 94.3 FM). The Hurricanes, who rank first in the Central, are off to a 5-1-1-0 start.
Cougar 20-year-old defenceman Bauer Dumanski was injured in Monday's 5-0 loss to the Calgary Hitmen and did not play on Wednesday.
