One point is better than none.
Bryce Pickford played the hero for the Victoria Royals on Saturday in the eighth round of the shootout giving the visitors a roller coaster 5-4 victory on Saturday in front of 3,620 fans at CN Centre.
Given the fact the Prince George Cougars stormed back from a 4-2 deficit in the final three minutes, three out of a possible four points against their BC Division rival is a step in the right direction.
Less than 24 hours after falling prey to the Riley Heidt show, it would be the Royals who showed off their mean streak – setting the tone early with its forechecking looking fast, fresh and intentional with their puck pursuit.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, where both teams had several chances to light the lamp, it would be Heidt who would open the scoring for the Cougars at 5:31 of the middle frame.
The hectic sequence started where Royals forward Brayden Boehm was stopped point blank by PG netminder Cooper Michaluk. With the puck rolling into the blue paint Carson Carels swept away from danger leading to a 3-on-2 rush up the ice.
Borya Valis screamed up the ice like gangbusters dishing a feed to Terik Parascak who found Heidt along the back door.
Riley Heidt has been in on 6 of our 7 goals so far this weekend 😳@mnwild | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/jv7Bwp0y0I pic.twitter.com/UR5OSMXj9z
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 27, 2024
Patient and undeterred, Victoria stuck to the script and kept coming in waves – and in a single flash the dam finally broke.
An ill-advised pinch at centre ice by Cougars rookie defenseman Arseni Anisimov led to a jail break 2-on-0 rush where Markus Loponen passed it over to Reggie Newman who made no mistake to even the score at 1-1.
The nasty play between the two division rivals continued – much to the liking of the visitors. Six minutes later, the Victoria cycle game took hold inside the Cougars zone leading to the go-ahead marker.
A good individual effort by Brayden Boehm set up Verhoeff who blasted his fourth of the season past Michaluk.
While the Cougars brass is gaga over the early returns and pro potential of Carels – and rightfully so – Verhoeff has been equally as impressive for Victoria posting 10 points in 14 games.
The gluttony of young starts on defence doesn’t end there as the impressive list of 2008-born studs includes Daxon Rudolph (Prince Albert), Ryan Lin (Vancouver) and Brett Liske (Everett).
And then there is that Landon Dupont guy who is also a Silvertip.
In the third, Victoria power-forward Reggie Newman continued to be a force against the Cougars.
He glided towards the front of the net, allowing a Justin Kipke shot to go top-shelf over Michaluk extending the edge to 3-1, quieting what was a spirted CN Centre crowd.
Aiden Foster trimmed the deficit to 3-2 crashing powering past a Royals blueliner – his attempted shot bounced off the skate of defenceman Seth Fryer and into the goal.
The momentum would be short-lived however as Teydon Trembecky accepted a Justin Kipke feed, rifling a shot top corner restoring the two-goal edge.
Cue the comeback.
When it seemed, the hill was too steep to climb, Heidt pulled the Cougars back with in one with 3:17 remaining as his wicked wrister rippled the mesh lifting the crowd to its feet.
His eighth goal of the season turned out to be his 300th career WHL point.
And he is nowhere near done 🫡@mnwild | @cibc pic.twitter.com/zTPQfN4WZo
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 27, 2024
Cougars head coach Mark Lamb pulled Michaluk in the game’s dying moments – a move that paid off handsomely. PG barraged the Victoria goal and finally broke through with 34 seconds remaining as Viliam Kmec drove the goal, left the puck behind for Valis – as the puck was rolling towards the yawning cage – the 20-year-old Slovakian import poked it over the line giving the Cougars new life.
Kmec completes the comeback and sends us to overtime!!!@GoldenKnights | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/gusq4jcQHj pic.twitter.com/P1viCAEXoN
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 27, 2024
PG had a pair of glorious chances to complete the comeback in overtime but were rebuffed by the crossbar and Kraus.
Parascak ripped a shot that beat Kraus but rung off the iron while Koehn Ziemmer attempted a wrap-around the far wing only to be denied by the outstretched foot of Royals netminder Jayden Kraus.
Victoria (8-3-1-1) outshot Prince George 23-19 and went 1-for-2 on the power-play while the Cougars failed to generate a man-advantage of their own.
Kraus made 30 saves for the Royals while Michaluk turned aside 25 Victoria pucks in defeat.
Following the weekend split, the Royals and PG are tied for the BC Division crown, however, Victoria has two games in hand.
The Cougars (7-4-2-2) will look to rebound on home ice Tuesday against the Moose Jaw Warriors (3-9-2-0).
Moose Jaw, who won its first league championship in its history last spring is 0-2 on their BC road swing after dropping a 6-0 loss to the Kelowna Rockets on Friday before falling short the next night (Saturday) in Kamloops by a 6-4 score.
Puck drop is 7pm at CN Centre.
RILEY HEIDT IS THE FIRST EVER COUGAR WITH 300 CAREER POINTS@mnwild | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/jO9Uj0Zt2j pic.twitter.com/N0PkJ1QTo0
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 27, 2024
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