That was far from a bodacious Michaelangelo masterpiece the Prince George Cougars painted Saturday at CN Centre but cowabunga, dude, a win’s a win.
For Cougars puckstopper Cooper Michaluk, it was a cartoon fantasy brought to life, one that will no doubt go down as one of the highlights of his hockey career.
Playing in front of a crowd of 5,042 spectators and decked out in neon-bright lime green and orange jerseys on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Night, Michaluk buried the Seattle Thunderbirds into the sand.
The 19-year-old goalie from Edmonton earned his first shutout, stopping 24 shots to cinch a 3-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. After 82 regular season games and six in the playoffs he’s finally got his first donut.
“It’s amazing, it was a long time coming, I was always wanting to get one and I’m just happy I got one,” said Michaluk.
The T-birds didn’t get a lot of shots but they gave Michakuk plenty of work on the pucks that did get through, putting him to the test several times on odd-man rushes or turnovers, but he wasn’t fooled on any of them.
“A game like that, 1-0 (until the third period), I didn’t get peppered at the start either and it slowly got me into the game, so I had to be focused and that’s part of the job,” said Michaluk.
So was there was any one save that stood out?
“All 24 of them I guess because I didn’t make a mistake,” said Michaluk. “I’ll think about this forever. It’ll be one of those games I’ll look back in my career and just always think about how nice the feeling was, so I’ll never forget it.”
The game-worn Ninja Turtles jerseys are being auctioned for charity and Michaluk said he’ll save a prominent place on his mantlepiece if he can find a way to keep that sweater in his possession.
“I know my mom was bidding for it online, we’ll see if she got it or not, that would be pretty cool,” he said.
For Michaluk, Saturday’s game was only his second start in almost a month. He improved his record to 4-5-0-1, while the Cougars jumped to 22-10-3-2 atop the BC Division. They’ve won nine of their last 11 games.
“It’s a tight-knit group and that’s what you need to go deep in the playoffs, and we’ve got the group for it,” said Michaluk.
Traded to the Cougars two games into the season from the Spokane Chiefs, Michaluk came close to blanking his first WHL opponent Dec. 14 in Spokane. The Cougars had a 3-0 lead until Brayden Crampton broke up the shutout with just 29 seconds left.
“(His shutout) is well deserved, it doesn’t surprise me, he practices like he plays and he’s always ready to go in,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “It’s hard to believe it was his first shutout. It was close in Spokane but we didn’t close it down for him, but a great job by him tonight.
“He played a great game. He didn’t get a lot of shots but he had some chances he had to be there for us. You know he’s in the game because he plays hard.”
Goals were hard to come by all weekend for the Cougars, as evidenced Friday in their 3-1 loss to Seattle that ended a five-game win streak for Prince George.
It took half a period but they drew first blood in the rematch. Carson Carels gained the puck on the half-wall in the Seattle end and fed Lee Shurgot in the slot for a one-timer he ripped into the net below the glove of Scott Ratzlaff.
The 19-year-old Ratzlaff, who earned an invitation to Canada’s world junior team tryouts, had to be sharp to keep the Cougars from adding to their lead, especially in the first period while his team was outshot 14-6. By the end of the game the shot count was 43-24 in the Cougars’ favour.
Borya Valis, shifted to the top line Saturday in place of Shurgot, combined with linemates Riley Heidt and Terik Parascak on the second goal of the game 4:56 into the third period.
Off the rush, Heidt gained the zone and fed the puck to Parascak whose shot from the circle was blocked by Ratzlaff. The puck landed at the feet of Valis standing in the blue paint and he chipped it in for his 19th of the season, giving the Cougars and their crowd of 5,042 some breathing room.
The Cougars had their chances to add to the total in late stages and had a 5-on-3 power play for nearly a minute and a half but despite having two more bodies out there they could not muster anything that counted on the scoreboard. The power play is one element they’ll need to work on.
The rough stuff that was a common theme in the Cougars’ 6-4 road win over the T-birds on New Year’s Eve flared up again early in the first period and that led to couple of fights – one that involved former Cougars forward Arjun Bawa duking it out with Cougar d-man Fraser Leonard. After all that pushing and shoving the dust finally settled and the teams stuck to hockey the rest of the game.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Vancouver Giants are next in line as Cougars opponents and will visit CN Centre Tuesday and Wednesday (7 p.m. both nights)… Cougars defenceman Bauer Dumanski was sporting full faceshield after taking a puck on the chin in Friday’s game against the T-birds… T-birds general manager Bill La Forge completed a major trade Saturday with the Calgary Hitmen, sending 19-year-old Vancouver Canucks blueline prospect Sawyer Mynio to the Calgary in exchange for 18-year-old defenceman Linden Burrett, 17-year-old forward Sawyer Mayes, a first-round pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft, a first-round pick in 2026, a fourth-round pick in 2025 and a fourth-rounder in 2026… The WHL trade deadline arrives on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 5 p.m. PT… Check the Cougars’ website if you’d like to bid on one of those Ninja Turtle jerseys. Play-by-play announcer Cole Waldie said during the broadcast the online traffic generated by the bidding process is unprecedented. Money raised by RE/MAX Children’s Miracle Network fund drive will go to the BC Children’s Hospital. Five of the jerseys have already been sold, including those worn by Heidt ($1,500), Carels ($1,250), Parascak ($1,200),Valis ($1,000) and Josh Ravensbergen ($1,500).
