Home ice has been a piece of paradise all season for the Prince George Cougars.
Even when they’re not firing on all cylinders, they find a way to win at CN Centre.
The Cats reached the 20-win mark at home Wednesday night and clinched their fourth consecutive WHL playoff spot after they skated to a 5-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets.
Matteo Danis recorded his second career hat trick, capping off the scoring with his third of the night into an empty Rockets net.
It was the Cougars’ fourth game in six days and two of those games were played a long way from home in Victoria. They were obviously not up to full steam for either game this week against the Rockets but found a way to win them both by identical 5-2 scores.
“We got the ‘W’ but I don’t think that’s even close to being our team and then you look for reasons and it’s fatigue,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb.
“Mentally, physically, we’re fatigued and you can really tell. We didn’t have a lot going besides our goalie tonight.”
Viliam Kmec put the Cougars ahead with an alley-oop shot from the top of the face-off circle. Kmec got the puck from Koehn Zimmer, standing behind the goal line and immediately let go a shot that ticked off the stick of Rockets forward Levi Benson and sailed in over the shoulder of goalie Jake Pilon just as Riley Heidt, standing just outside the crease, waved at the puck.
The goal was initially waived off by the officials, thinking Heidt contacted the puck with a high stick, but the replay showed the Cougar centre didn’t touch it and it was ruled a good goal.
That was one of the few forays into the attacking zone the Cougars were able to muster in a lacklustre opening period in which they were outshot 9-5. One of those Kelowna shots, off the stick of Will Sharpe, ended up in the back of the Prince George net. Heidt’s clearing pass ticked off the skate of Benson and the puck skirted to Sharpe, the former Lethbridge Hurricanes player, and he buried it into the top far-side corner.
Two quick goals early in the second period seemed to get the Cougars out of their funk.
The Rockets turned the puck over to Borya Valis and he broke down the left wing with Rockets forward Gabriel Guilbault draped all over him. Valis kept his feet moving and headed for the goal, switching from his backhand to his forehand to shovel the puck through Pilon’s legs for his 28th of the season.
On the following shift, Danis went behind the net with the puck and while down on his knees wrapped himself around the goal and caught Pilon not hugging the post.
Three goals on seven shots, it wasn’t a great start for Pilon. But it was obvious in the opposite crease Joshua Ravensbergen was on top of his game.
He stopped 23 of 25 shots to record his 28th win and his best of the night was probably his first, 37 seconds in, to deny Hiroki Gojsic. The Rockets winger was parked just off the post when he took a goalmouth pass and fired into what looked like a gaping net, until Ravensbergen flashed his glove to catch the labelled shot.
The Cougars were outshot 25-21.
It was just another day at the office for Ravensbergen, who’s playing exactly like you would expect the No. 1-ranked North American goalie available in the draft. He posted his 29th win of the season, just one shy of league-leader Jared Cowan of the Spokane Chiefs, who beat the Vancouver Giants 4-3 Wednesday for his 30th.
Danis scored again in the third period, a weird wraparound try that ticked in off the skate of Rockets forward Andrew Petruk and floated into the net behind a surprised Pilon.
The teams were skating 4-on-4 when Rockets defenceman Jacob Henderson cut the lead to 4-2 with a slick drag move through the slot he finished with a shot over Ravensbergen’s glove — a memorable first career WHL goal for the 16-year-old rookie from Burnaby.
Danis’ empty-netter, the pizza goal, came with 17:26 with Pilon on the bench. The 19-year-old Calgary native has been hot lately with seven goals in his last 13 games. Danis has topped his three-goal effort just once in his career, when he scored four goals two seasons ago on March 15, 2023 for the Calgary Hitmen on a win over Lethbridge.
“It’s funny how it works, you score one or two and then you just build a bunch of confidence right off the bat and you feel more comfortable with the puck,” said Danis, who admitted his team is feeling road-weary.
“I don’t want to throw out excuses but we do have the hardest travel in the WHL. We’re on the bus all the time for hours, at night, travelling to different locations. It seems we’re a week at home, a week on the road, back and forth a lot and a lot of teams in the WHL don’t have that same schedule.
“When you have that much travel on the bus you’re just not able to recover fully, not able to get a full night’s sleep. I can’t remember when we last had a good hour-and-a-half practice day when we went over systems and details. It’s grind time. It’s the dog days of February, that’s all it is, it’s grind time and rest is the most important thing right now.”
The Cougars (33-19-4-2) have just 10 games left in the regular season and are solidly entrenched in fourth place in the Western Conference, five points back of the BC Division-leading Victoria Royals.
Danis was there for last year’s postseason that ended in a Game 6 loss to Portland in the conference championship and he’s relishing the thought of playing in front of a packed barn for their next playoff run.
“Just thinking of the CN Centre during playoff time, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go to bed tonight, it is a wild and rumble place – just the excitement in the room to get back there,” he said.
“We were pretty mad about what happened last year and we have that on our shoulder, a little chip, so we’re just going to bring way more energy this year and way more excitement and we know the best crowd in the WHL is going to be electric.”
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars will be back on home ice Friday (7 p.m.) to face the Kamloops Blazers. They play Saturday in Kamloops, the start of a five-game roadtrip that also stops in Wenatchee (twice), Everett and Vancouver…. The Cougars will be wearing special pink jerseys Friday they will auction off, with proceeds going to support the BC Cancer Foundation. That game will also feature a Mega 50-50 draw with a guaranteed prize pot of $50,000…The Rockets will head to Alberta to play in Red Deer on Saturday, the fourth of an eight-game roadtrip…. Kelowna is missing three of its best forwards due to season-ending injuries. That list includes Utah first-rounder Tij Iginla (hip surgery), New Jersey Devils pick Max Graham (knee) and Michael Cicek (forearm laceration). Graham, the team captain, and Cicek are both 20-year-olds whose WHL careers are coming to an end. Also on the injury shelf were Rockets D Carter Kowalyk and F Jaxon Kehrig… Cougars rookie defenceman Carson Carels returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing three games with an unspecified injury…. Kayden Lemire had a spirited scrap with Kelowna defenceman Nate Corbet near the end of the game and the rookie Cougar winger earned the decision, another positive takeaway for the 16-year-old Edmonton native, who scored his fourth WHL goal in Tuesday’s win. The bad blood spilled over to Aiden Foster and Rockets tough guy Dawson Gerwing and they were handed misconducts and sent to their respective dressing rooms. They continued to argue under the stands and the video of Foster jawing with Gerwing was broadcast on the jumbotron, keeping the crowd of 3,187 entertained right to the end.
