A great start, superb goaltending and some fast-food delivery at the end gave the Prince George Cougars what they needed they needed to defeat the Kelowna Rockets 5-2 and end their three-game WHL losing streak Tuesday night at CN Centre.
It certainly wasn’t pretty but all that realy matters is it was a win for a Cougar team that’s still in the fight for first place in the BC Division.
Rookie Kayden Lemire delivered the winning strike for Prince George, wrapping in a rebound early in the second period that put the Cougars ahead 3-0.
But the Rockets did not go away quietly. Kelowna came in to town having lost 15 of their last 16 games but they certainly look like bottom feeders. The kept fighting back and almost got made it one-goal game late in the second period.
The Cougars did what they had to and got timely goals to stay in front but they showed their defensive weaknesses and it wasn’t a fun night from the coach’s perspective behind the bench. Mark Lamb knew how sloppy they were, depending too much on Joshua Ravenbergen to bail them out, but the bottom line is they found a way to win, which they ‘ve done often at CN Centre, improving their home record to 19-4-3-2.
The win moved the Cougars (32-19-4-2) within seven points of the BC Division-leading Victoria Royals. Kelowna (17-34-4-2) remained last in the Western Conference.
“It’s real nice to get back in the win column, we needed that for sure, and it wasn’t easy,” said Lamb, the Cougars head coach and general manager. “We got off to that good start and we were kind of lucky we got those two goals and that was kind of the game, but they pushed pretty hard.
“I thought we turned the puck over, I thought we made too many mistakes. There’s a lot to play for and a lot to learn. You want to be hitting the postseason playing well and we’re not playing well enough right now, we’ve got to get better.”
The Cougar faithful came to the rink expecting a blowout against an injury-riddled Kelowna team that building to peak next season and for a while there it looked like the rout was on. On the first shot at goalie Rhett Stoesser, Terik Parascak unleashed a bullet that clanged the inner post - goal No. 25 for the Washington Capitals first-rounder.
About a minute later, Alexey Chichkin gained the puck at the Kelowna blueline and fired a floater of a wristshot that eluded Stoesser with Borya Valis running the screen and it sailed in over his glove - an early 2-0 lead for the guys in red and black. It was first goal for Chichkin since being acquired Jan. 7 in a trade from the Regina Pats.
Seeing his starter allow two goals on six shots through 2:25 of game action convinced Rockets interim head coach Derrick Martin to replace Stoesser with Jake Pilon and the goalie switch had the desired effect. The Rockets got settled and were an even match for the Cougars for the rest of the period.
After Lemire’s goal the Rockets and Cougars each scored two more. Kayden Longley and Hayden Paupanekis replied for the Rockets and Ben Riche and Koehn Zimmer found the net for Prince George.
Ziemmer, now known as The Delivery Guy, scored the empty-netter that guaranteed free pizza for the fans, all 2,907 of them. For Ziemmer, the Cougars’ all-time goal scoring leader, that was this 123rd goal of his WHL career. He broke Chase Witala’s record of 120 with his two-goal night Saturday in a 5-3 loss in Victoria.
“It’s pretty cool being at the top of that list now, there’s a lot of good names on it and like Chase was there before, just to be in the conversation with him,” said Ziemmer. He actually texted me after the game congratulating me, so that’s an honour for that, pretty cool.”
Ziemmer knows there’s room for improvement from his team but was also impressed with the effort from the Rockets.
“I thought it wasn’t pretty but we stuck through it the whole game, we had ups and downs through it but ultimately we stuck with it enough to come out with the W,” said Ziemmer.
“Throughout their whole lineup they have a lot of pride there. You look at them hosting Memorial Cup next year, everyone wants to play for them next year so it’s kind of a tryout for them this year. They’re a good team over there.”
Seven of Ziemmer’s team-leading 32 goals this season have been scored on home ice as the fifth of the game, which triggered the free pizza promotion in each of those seven nights. He got into it Tuesday with his fly-by celly, mimicking the act of eating a fresh slice.
“It’s kind of a funny goal to score, for sure,” he said. “Ultimately, Dominos giving out that many pizzas is crazy in my opinion, but yeah it’s pretty cool.”
The Rockets finally got to Ravensbergen with about 15 minutes gone in the second period. Kalder Varga grabbed the puck behind the Cougar net on a dump-in and centred it out to Hiroki Gojsic, whose shot from close range produced a rebound for Longley and he chipped it in for his 10th of the season.
The Rockets poured it and came right back with a dominant shift and Ravensbergen was forced to make three tough saves in rapid succession to preserve the 3-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
Down by two goals, the Rockets blitzed the Cougars to start the third period and kept them pinned for an extended period but somehow the Cats escaped unscathed and they can thank Ravensbergen for that.
The 18-year-old Ravensbergen, ranked as the top North American goalie available for this year’s NHL draft, made a spectacular sprawling save while stretched flat on the ice and got his shoulder in the way of wraparound shot off the stick of Paupanekis. Seconds later he got tested again on a 3-on-2 chance as the Rockets continued to poke holes in the spotty Cougars’ defensive zone coverage.
Paupanekis scored on a power-play one-timer to get within 4-2 midway through the third period and Ravensbergen still had to come up with a few good saves down the stretch to hold the Rockets at bay. He made 27 saves as the game’s first star to improve his record to 28-11-3-1 in 2004-25.
It was a bounce-back game for Ravensbergen after getting pulled from the game Saturday when he allowed three goals on five shots in the second loss to the Royals.
LOOSE PUCKS: The rematch Wednesday at CN Centre starts at 7 p.m… Cougars defenceman Corbin Vaughan drew the primary assist on Lemire’s goal in his first game back after serving a 10-game suspension for his high hit on Swift Current Broncos forward Brady Birnie Jan. 18 in Prince George… Tuesday’s game was the second of a nine-game roadtrip for the Rockets, who begin their Alberta tour Saturday in Red Deer… The Cougars host the Kamloops Blazers Friday in a weekend home-and-home series. The Cats will be wearing special pink jerseys for their Cougars Fight Cancer promotion. There’s also a Mega 50-50 draw Friday with a guaranteed prize pot of $50,000… The game in Kamloops is the start of a five-game trip for the Cougars that stops in Wenatchee next Wednesday and Friday. They also visit Everett on Saturday, March 7 and Vancouver on Sunday, March 9. The Cougars have 11 games left.
