Molendyk, Gardner enjoy northern homecoming as Blades beat Cougars in OT

Similar to the American Election, there wasn’t too much to pick from between a pair of the WHL’s upper-echelon teams.

Brendon Lisowsky’s second goal of the game at the 2:00 minute mark of overtime completed a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind victory against the Prince George Cougars in front of 3,019 fans at CN Centre.

The Cougars blew a 4-2 lead with over 11 minutes remaining, surrounding goals to Lisowsky and Lucas Hansen 19 seconds apart to put the visitors back on even terms.

“You need a big play when you are up 4-2 to keep it going. We needed numbers defensively and a big save. We gave them lots of shots and we didn’t do that and that is why they got back in the game,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager.

Saskatoon got on the board first at 3:43 of the first period courtesy of a 2-on-1 rush led by Lisowsky was finished off by a wicked wrister from Ben Riche, rising over the shoulder of Josh Ravensbergen for a 1-0 lead.

On a Cougars power-play, Koehn Ziemmer completed a three-way scoring play on the man-advantage to even the score. Viliam Kmec held the puck inside the Blades blueline and found Riley Heidt, who later dished to the Los Angeles Kings prospect past an outstretched Evan Gardner.

That NHL connection 🥵@LAKings | @mnwild | @GoldenKnights | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/axTZH8V2d9 pic.twitter.com/ipI2iWIohy

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2024

Ziemmer then banked his second of the contest past Gardner following a well-placed point shot by rookie defenceman Leith Hunter.

Eight minutes later, the high-powered Cougars continued to flex its muscles as Heidt blew past McBride product and Nashville Predators top prospect Tanner Molendyk creating another odd-man rush, finished off by Terik Parascak.

Riley Heidt and Terik Parascak have an early contender for CHL goal of the week in the CHL game of the week!@Capitals | @mnwild | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/DExFtA3BY5 pic.twitter.com/vz46jD0oBs

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2024

Down but not out, the Blades battled back with a power-play marker of their own courtesy of Tyler Parr accepting a Molendyk feed, trimming the deficit to a single goal.

In the third, the Cougars power–play once again paid dividends – this time, it would be Borya Valis lighting up a vicious one-timer, set up by Kmec putting the host team up 4-2.

Borya puts the CN Centre on pizza watch!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/oYS4yv2JmT pic.twitter.com/qfNSZaaWpp

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2024

Prince George outshot Saskatoon 35-34 and went 2-for-4 on the power-play while the Blades converted once on four tries.

This was the third game of the Blades five-game BC Division road swing where they are 1-1-0-1.

However, this contest was a lot more special for Molendyk who had upwards of 80 people show up from his hometown of McBride, two hours from the northern capital.

After the game, every one of his friends and extended family spent a few moments with the 19-year-old at centre ice, culminated by several memorable photos.

“I thought we came out with fire. Obviously, we were pissed off about our two losses to Vancouver and Victoria and I thought we had a good bounce back game.”

“Every guy in that room gets along unbelievably. We are brothers in that room and a lot of teams don’t that and I think that is one of our strengths.”

“It’s heartwarming for all my friends and family to show up. It’s very special to me and they are the reason why I am here.”

It’s been a sharp rise for Molendyk over the past few years while dawning the Blue and Yellow Pacman colours of one of the WHL’s oldest franchises.

Last year, Molendyk put up a career-high 56 points on the back end for a Saskatoon squad that was one win away from punching their ticket to the WHL Final, losing in overtime of game six and seven of the Eastern Conference Final to the Moose Jaw Warriors (the eventual league champion).

The 19-year-old also endured some adversity coming back from a wrist injury that cost him the chance to suit up for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

With that now a distant memory, Molendyk is pumped for another chance to play in the Holiday tourney.

“It’s was probably one of the hardest times of my life going through that. I am excited for this year, hopefully I can earn my spot there again this year and it would be good to get the gold.”

“World Juniors is one of the goals, everyone wants to play there. It is in Ottawa this year, which will be electric out there,” added Molendyk.

The brief stop in Northern BC also had special meaning for Blades goaltender Evan Gardner, a second-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Fort St. John product.

“It’s awesome. There are so many people who haven’t seen me play in years, probably since I was 12 years old and to come here and support me. It was awesome to have tons of people. It was a great to get the win in front of them.”

Similar to Ravensbergen, Gardner splashed onto the scene in Saskatoon stealing the starter’s job from Austin Elliott last year posting an eye-popping 1.91 goals against average to go along with a .927 save percentage while also getting the call in all 15 of 16 playoff games.

Going into the year as the clear-cut number one option, Gardner’s confidence is beaming.

‘“All that playoff experience I acquired and playing late in the season I was playing a pretty big role on the team so that helped a lot going into this season and not thinking a moment is too big for me.”

Saskatoon improves to 11-3-1-1 and remains in top spot in the Eastern Conference while the Cougars drop to 9-4-3-2, two points up on the Victoria Royals for top spot in the BC Division – however, the Royals have two games in hand.

PG is back in action Saturday (6pm) and Sunday (2pm) when they host the Vancouver Giants (9-4-2-0) as part of Community Heroes Weekend, which will include a Mega 50/50 jackpot (Sunday).

In addition, the two-game set will mark a brief homecoming for Giants star forward and local product Cameron Schmidt who is first in the WHL in goals with 17 and second in league scoring (27 points) trailing only Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers.