Considering his roots in McBride, Prince George is as close to home as Tanner Molendyk will ever get in his Western Hockey League career and it seemed like half the town of 600 turned out to welcome him and the Saskatoon Blades back to CN Centre.
The 19-year-old defenceman is on a fast track to the NHL as a first-round pick of the Nashville Predators and knowing he won’t be likely be playing again in this neck of the woods his friends and family turned out by the dozens to watch him in action.
They had to hang in there for an extra two minutes of hockey but the McBride mob got what they were hoping for when the Blades rallied from a two-goal third-period deficit and beat the Prince George Cougars 5-4 in overtime.
“It’s heartwarming, for all those guys to show up and come support me it’s special - They’re the reason I’ve kind of got here,” said Molendyk, who played one year of rep hockey in Prince George before moving to the Thompson Blazers and Yale Academy.
The Blades, still smarting from one-goal losses in Vancouver and Victoria to start their BC Division tour on the weekend, came out looking like the defending WHL regular season champions they are, dictating the play through much of the first half of the opening period.
“I thought we came out firing,” said Molendyk, whose two assists Tuesday left him with 14 points in 10 games this season. “We were obviously pissed off about our two losses and I think we had a good bounce-back game.
“I think it’s just chemistry, every guy gets along like unbelievable; we’re brothers in there and a lot of teams don’t have that and I think that’s one of our big things. We had a really slick team last year and lost a lot of people and guys have stepped up. There’s a lot of young guys that have impressed me.”
Brandon Lisowsky stole the puck from Terik Parascak along the wall at centre and put on a burst of speed to get free while the Cougars were at the end of a shift and slipped the puck through the legs of Joshua Ravensbergen to end it two minutes into OT.
Lisowsky triggered the comeback nine minutes into the third period with a sharp wrister from the face-off circle that made it a 4-3 count and 19 seconds later Lukas Hansen tied it with his first of the season, a high-slot shot that slipped through a three-player screen in front of Ravensbergen
The win improved the Blades first-place Eastern Conference record to 11-3-1-1, while the Cougars, who picked up an overtime point, remained on top of the BC Division with a 9-4-3-2 record.
Ben Riche got the Blades started with top-shelf shot in over Ravensbergen’s shoulder with 3:43 gone.
The Cougs got back on even terms on their first power play. After some crisp passing and rapid puck movement, Riley Heidt found Koehn Ziemmer with a goalmouth pass and an easy tap-in for the Los Angeles Kings’ draft pick.
Ziemmer gave the Cats the lead when he cradled the puck behind the goal line and banked it in off the back of Blades goalie Evan Gardner’s leg for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
Heidt, who’s on pace to end up in the top-10 all-time WHL assists list, pulled off a spectacular play midway through the second period for his second of three helpers in the game.
Heidt gained the puck at centre ice and avoided a lunging Molendyk with a toe-drag tuck to set up a 2-1 chance, then swept the puck around Ben Saunderson’s sliding block attempt and fed Parascak a perfect cross-ice pass for a 3-1 lead.
The Blades made it interesting again late in the period, cashing in a power-play chance with a point shot from Tyler Parr that sailed into the net.
The Cougar power play struck again seven minutes into the third. Borya Valis called for the puck while standing on the left point and Viliam Kmec obliged, feeding him a one-timer and found its way through Gardner’s equipment, but their seemingly comfortable lead soon evaporated.
“We made a couple mistakes and when you get up like that you got to do things and do them a lot harder with urgency and we didn’t,” said Cougars head coach Mark Lamb. “They get a rush and you’ve got to make a save, you’ve got to block a shot and do something special and we didn’t do it.
“We’re up 4-2 and maybe we thought we were going to just cruise right to it and all of a sudden it’s tied and you seen what happened in overtime.”
After the game, the CN Centre rink attendants rolled out the red carpet to allow the 80 or so fans to swarm Molendyk. Among those who surrounded him in the post-game celebration on the ice were Saskatoon goalie Gardner’s parents and relatives from Fort St. John.
Mike Molendyk, Tanner’s grandfather from the McBride suburb Dunster, made the trip two seasons ago when Tanner played the Cougars for the first time at CN Centre on Feb. 14, 2022, which ended in a 5-2 Blades’ win.
“Tanner told us at four years old he was going to make the NHL, and he has worked for it every since, he does a great job,” said Mike. “He’s very humble, he’s a positive young man and he’s not above everybody and he works every day to get better. He thinks well and passes well and he’s a team player.”
If he does make to The Show, Molendyk would be the first McBride native ever to play in the NHL. But first he’ll got another crack at playing in the world junior championship which starts Dec. 26 in Ottawa. Last year Molendyk made Team Canada for the tournament in Sweden but broke his arm in the final pre-tournament game.
“That was tough, probably one of the hardest times I’ve had in my life,” he said. “Obviously I’m excited for this year. Hopefully I can earn my spot there again and hopefully I can get gold medal. The NHL is the end goal but the world juniors is the goal you want to accomplish on the way there. It’s in Ottawa, which is going to be cool, it’ll be electric out there.”
Blades assistant coach Jerome Engele, who watched Tuesday’s game from the media box, expects to see Molendyk sporting the maple leaf and says it’s inevitable he will make it to the NHL.
“He’s an offensive defenceman and the strongest part is his skating, but he can also play a real good solid defensive game, so he’s an all-around hockey player, said Engele. “He’s strong on his skates, shoots the puck and makes good plays 90 per cent of the time.
“There’s no doubt he’ll be a pro and he’ll be up there I would say a long time with his skating ability. He’s tricky, hard to hit. You very seldom do you see him get hit. He sees the ice well and his legs get him out of trouble because he skates so well. He’ll make (world juniors) and he’ll be outstanding.”
The Cats will be back on home ice Saturday night (6 p.m.) and Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.) to take on the Vancouver Giants. This is their first visit of the season to Prince George for Giants sniper and Prince George native Cameron Schmidt, who leads the WHL with 17 goals and is just two points behind Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers in the scoring race.
