The Prince George Cougars keep finding ways to win as they downed the Kelowna Rockets 4-3 at the CN Centre.
“I thought they took the play to us, it certainly wasn’t our best game, but we’ll take the two points and move on to tomorrow” said Cougars Head Coach and GM Mark Lamb on the post-game show on 94.3 the Goat.
“We didn’t get the puck out of our own end, we turned the puck over too much, there’s a lot of things we have to clean up, but we’ll take the win.”
The game came right down to the wire, as Jakub Stancl scored for the Rockets to cut the deficit to 4-3 with just over two minutes to go into the third.
The goal was met with a chorus of boos from the 3,323 fans at the CN Centre, who felt there should have been an interference penalty called on the Rockets on the play.
Following the goal, the Rockets pulled Jari Kykkanen for the extra attacker, but the Cougars put on one of the best defensive displays of the season so far.
Josh Ravensbergen made an outstanding save on the play to help seal the Cougars win.
“It was a battle from all the guys in front of us, blocking lots of shots,” Ravensbergen said on the post-game show.
Kelowna outshot the Cougars by a 34-23 margin, but ran into a hot goaltender in Ravensbergen.
It was another outstanding performance for Viliam Kmec as well, as he recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick in the first period.
Kmec gets the weekend started on the right foot!@GoldenKnights | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/JgfkUD9w22 pic.twitter.com/QC1j8a8ZPu
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 16, 2024
“He’s the ultimate team guy,” Lamb said.
“I just love how he plays and have for a long time, I just like that he’s starting to get the respect that he deserves, he’s got the respect in the room and from the staff here, and now an NHL contract, and I think people are starting to realize how good this kid is.”
Fresh off his silver medal performance in the U17 World Challenge, Carson Carels potted his first career WHL goal.
Fresh off Canada’s U17 team, Carson Carels has his first WHL goal!!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/qxy3yt0P2i pic.twitter.com/BvHMMande0
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 16, 2024
“It feels really good, it’s good to get that first one and that monkey off my back,” Carels said during his second intermission interview with Will Peters.
“I just saw a lane and I saw that the puck squirted to Perry so he just passed to me and I was calling for it, I just tried to go short side and it went in.”
Lee Shurgot’s emergence continued in the game as well, scoring his third goal in as many games.
Lee Shurgot had 0 career goals this time last week. He now has 3 😳@CarlsJrCA pic.twitter.com/qf313magDL
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 16, 2024
Koehn Ziemmer’s goal streak continued as he scored the eventual winner on the powerplay.
Make that six straight games with (at least) a goal for Koehn Ziemmer!@LAKings | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/k18ORIzPgN pic.twitter.com/HuskyJjT2H
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 16, 2024
The Cougars were without Riley Heidt as he’s nursing an upper body injury he sustained last weekend against the Vancouver Giants.
Terik Parascak also left the game in the third and didn’t return after taking a scary hit.
The full box score is here.
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