Borya Valis has a new favourite number – 200 - and it describes what he’s all about as one of the Prince George Cougars’ most valuable players.
Valis joined the Western Hockey League’s 200-point club midway through the game Friday when he scored to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead over the Tri-City Americans and he added a key assist that set up Ben Riche’s game-winning goal in a 4-3 victory in front of 3,448 witnesses at CN Centre.
Bursting that 200-point bubble in just 234 games, the 20-year-old native of Denver, Colo., has proven throughout his four-season WHL career he has what it takes to generate offence and that was the case again Friday.
But there’s another reason Valis likes that No. 200 attached to his name and it’s all about the way he conducts himself on the ice.
Hockey players who play a 200-foot game are a coach’s dream and when you combine good work habits that with an ability to put the puck in the net and set up teammates for scoring chances you draw interest from NHL scouts. Valis is without doubt that kind of player.
“I think he’s one of the most improved players in the league,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb.
“He’s our best two-way player, he’s really bought into that. He wants to play pro and he’s going to play pro and I just can’t say enough. He’s a leader on the team. His turnaround from the player he was when we got him to now, it’s just a drastic change and he’s like that every day, he’s a complete player. He works at it and he’s so coachable.”
Valis was already a proven sniper when he arrived Dec. 31, 2023 in a trade from the Regina Pats that sent 2006-born defenceman Tyson Buczkowski, a third-round pick in 2026 and a 2024 fourth-rounder to the Pats.
But he needed to work on the defensive aspects and he’s certainly accomplished that since he joined the Cougars and that led to an invitation last summer to the Detroit Red Wings rookie camp. The coaches have total confidence in what Valis can do now to keep teams from scoring. Extremely smart with his stick positioning, he’s one of the first off the bench playing shorthanded and he’s equally adept on power plays.
“I think I have more confidence in myself, my speed, I think I can outskate anyone on the ice,” Valis said. “I turn over the puck sometimes, and that’s part of the game, you’ve got to get it back. The coaches have been working with me a lot of the little details because that’s what it takes to play on the professional level so I’ve been really focusing on that and it’s been helping.
“I never had a chance to play PK (in Regina) and (Cougars associate coach) Jim Playfair put me in and gave me that opportunity and it’s honestly one of my favourite things to do. Defence wins championships and that’s how you create offence so I’ve been really focusing on my defensive game.”
The Cougars were perfect on the PK Friday not allowing a goal on the Americans’ four power plays.
Valis’s 23rd goal of the season was initially waived off because the net was dislodged by goalie Lukas Matecha when he lost his balance and leaned hard against the post just as Valis was dragging the puck across the crease into the net. The officials conferred at centre ice and determined it was indeed a goal.
Then in the third period Valis fired a hard low shot from the left wing that produced a fat rebound and Riche made no mistake sweeping in the loose puck for his team-leading 28th goal.
Valis came close to a second goal but was stopped by Matecha on a shorthanded breakaway late in the game.
“We’ve been on a slump and we’re trying to gain our game back,” said Valis. “I think we should have had more power plays but overall the boys played well and got the job done.”
The win moved the Cougars (27-15-3-2) within a point of the Victoria Royals for first place in the BC Division. The Royals lost 5-1 Friday in Spokane. The Americans (23-19-4-1) remain seventh in the Western Conference.
Tri-City made it a 4-3 game 10:39 into the third period when defenceman Jaxen Adam let go a shot from the point that got through a screen in front of the Cougars’ net. It the first career WHL goal for the 17-year-old native of Cochrane, Alta.
Josh Ravensbergen, making his seventh consecutive start in goal for the Cougars, made three key stops in a late surge for the Americans with about two minutes left to keep his team ahead.
This was the first of three consecutive games between the teams and the Cougars set the tone with a strong opening period. Captain Riley Heidt delivered the first strike, ripping a wrister from the left dot into the top corner of the net behind Matecha on a Cougar power play midway through the period.
The Americans answered about a minute later, scoring on a rebound of shot from Jackson Smith that kicked out to Max Curren and the Czechian import fired it in for his sixth of the season.
The Cougars gained some traction from two effective penalty kills and retook the lead in the final minute before the break. Off the rush, Terik Parascak went deep with the puck and got jammed with his backhand deke but the puck was left for Aiden Foster and he banged it in to raise his season goal total to seven.
The Americans evened it up at 2-2 just past the four-minute mark of the second period. Curren spotted Jake Sloan in the high slot and fed him for a one-timer that beat Ravensbergen.
The Cougars outshot the Americans 29-19. The 19 shots was the fewest the Cougars have allowed in a game this season.
“I liked everything about it, I thought it got a little close at the end and the penalties, but the guys locked it down and played great,” said Lamb.
Parascak assisted on three of the four Cougars goals and now has 62 points in 43 games, tied with Riche for the team lead.
“We played a good game defensively, our D were really good tonight with their gap,” said Parascak. “We had a couple lapses at times with our group in our own end but for the most part I thought we were really good.
“There was definitely an opportunity to put a couple in but I was happy with how I played tonight, it felt like I was on the puck quite a bit.”
LOOSE PUCKS: The rematch is set for Saturday (6 p.m.) at CN Centre. The Americans will host the Cougars Tuesday in Kennewick, Wash… Heidt’s assist on Foster’s goal was the 232nd of his WHL career and he’s now only three behind Mark Morrison for the all-time franchise record for most assists dating back to the Cougars’ origin in Victoria. Morrison, a native of Prince George who played four seasons with the Victoria Cougars from 1979-83, is now in his third season as head coach of the AHL Manitoba Moose… Valis was born in Los Angeles and moved to Denver when he was six. His parents are from Russia and he grew up speaking their language. That’s proved extremely valuable to the Cougars this season helping his roommate, Russian-born 17-year-old defenceman Arseni Anisimov, adjust to a new country and a new language.
