KC and the Sunshine Band had the last word in the celebration song Saturday as the Prince George Cougars left the ice at CN Centre after a confidence-building 5-1 win over the league-leading Everett Silvertips.
“That’s the way, uh-huh, un-huh, I like it.”
The Cats’ performance certainly met the approval of the Cougars fans in the crowd of 4,460 who showed up for the weekend rematch to watch their team avenge Friday’s 3-1 loss to Everett.
Josh Ravensbergen came one shot away from posting his first shutout of the season, stopping 33 of 34 shots for his 27th win, tied with Spokane’s Dawson Cowan for the league lead.
The Cougars took control in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to shock the WHL-leading Silvertips.
“It’s great, obviously they’ve been on a roll this season and been an unreal team and it was great our guys could get four in the second and put us ahead and finish it out,” said Ravensbergen. “It was a great win for our group.
“The guys put a good effort for it, we were battling and working hard and it paid off. We’re super-pumped.”
Ravensbergen set the tone early with three excellent saves when the Silvertips looked extremely dangerous on their first power play three minutes in.
“They were moving the puck really well and I was fortunate to make a couple saves and it feels great to make a couple big ones early in the game,” said Ravensbergen. “You just feel more into and it builds more confidence.”
The game was still scoreless when the Silvertips were on a delayed penalty call with the puck in the Cougars’ possession and just as Ravensbergen sprinted for the bench to get the sixth skater on the ice one of his teammates inadvertently shot the puck back into their own zone and it was heading into the net, forcing Ravensbergen to make a diving save.
The Cougars were outshot 34-23.
Cats wingers Koehn Ziemmer and Borya Valis each contributed a goal and two assists, playing a line centred by Ben Riche.
“We came in after the first period and knew what we had to do in the second and we picked up our game and got rewarded with some goals there and just grinded it out in the third,” said Ziemmer.
Ziemmer ended a four-game goal-scoring drought in record-tying fashion to open the scoring four minutes into the second period. Valis went behind the Silvertips’ net and forced a turnover that sent the puck out to Riche, who made a wise decision to pass to an open Ziemmer, and he tucked it into the open side behind goalie Jesse Sanche.
That was Ziemmer’s 120th WHL career goal and he tied the all-time Prince George franchise record that dates back to 1994, held by forward Chase Witala, a Cougar from 2011-2016.
“It’s an honour for sure, you look at a long list of a lot of names and a great organization for a lot of years and to be up there with (Witala) now is an honour,” said Ziemmer.
The Cougars’ power play finally clicked with 6:30 gone in the second period. Ziemmer used his glove to knock down Everett defenceman Landon DuPont’s clearing attempt out of the corner off the left wing glass on and he fed a crisp cross-ice pass to Jett Lajoie who wired in a top-shelf snapper for a 2-0 lead.
“I think it was just a matter of time,” said Ziemmer. “We tried some different combinations and we got one to go in there and that just kind of lit a spark up. It was nice to get going. We know what kind of team we are and those were huge points.”
The second-period fun continued for the Cougars and their fans in an enthusiastic gathering of 4,460.
Ziemmer picked up his third point of the night when he set up Valis for a knee-down rocket onetimer that sailed in over Sanchez’s right shoulder, the 27th of the season for Valis just past the 15-minute mark of the second.
Less than a minute later it was Riley Heidt’s turn to lead the flyby celly past the Cougars’ bench after he scored from the high slot, finding the same part of the net as Valis did.
Everett broke up Ravensbergen’s shutout bid 9:18 into the third period with a power-play goal tap-in. Jesse Heslop’s shot-pass found the stick of Carter Bear, standing just off the post for his team-leading 38th of the season.
The Cougars got that one back against the WHL’s stingiest team late on a turnover. Valis intercepted a clearing attempt from the Silvertips defence and put the puck over to Riche, who whipped it in for his 29th goal, the Cougars’ fifth of the night. That guaranteed a free pizza coupon for everyone in the building.
“I didn’t think they’d get the pizza goal against those guys,” said Cougars season ticket holder Pat Golden, as he left the rink.
Both teams are traveling through the night to get to their next hockey destinations. The Cougars play a Family Day matinee in Langley against the Vancouver Giants (2 p.m. start, 94.3 FM The Goat). The Silvertips (38-10-4-3) play that afternoon in Victoria.
The Cougars (31-16-4-2) are still six points behind Victoria for top spot in the BC Division. The Royals completed a home-and-home sweep of the Giants with a 5-2 win Saturday in Victoria.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars won’t be returning to PG until next Sunday. After they take on the Giants they’ll head to Victoria early to get set for a weekend doubleheader Friday and Saturday against the Royals… They’re back at CN Centre on Tuesday, Feb. 25 to take on the Kelowna Rockets. That’s the first game Cougars’ D Corbin Vaughan will be eligible to return after serving a 10-game suspension… Valis, a native of Denver, Colo., moved to within a point of tying the Cougars’ record for most points in a single season by an American-born player. Centre Zach Pochiro set the record in 2013-14 with 66 points. Now with 65 points, Valis has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in his last 14 games… The game was delayed for four minutes in the first period when one of the panels of rink glass popped off its frame after Everett defenceman Eric Jamieson nailed Aiden Foster against the corner wall. A scrum ensued and Jamieson’s helmet came off and fell into the stands. A young Cougars fan picked it up and put it on his head, which drew a hearty laugh from the crowd.
