Cougars use three-goal third period to power past Vancouver

The trend of sleepy second periods nearly reached a boiling point for the Prince George Cougars.

Luckily, they saved their best for last.

Three third-period goals from Borya Valis, Jett Lajoie and Viliam Kmec propelled the Cats to a scrambly 4-2 win over the Vancouver Giants in front of a crowd of 2,899 fans at CN Centre on Tuesday.

Valis snapped a 1-1 tie 54 seconds into the third driving to the Giants goal, cashing in on a Villam Kmec point shot.

Borya Valis. He scores goals. He draws penalties. Sometimes on the same play!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/MlSt6CGthM pic.twitter.com/aSkRwXwgKa

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 8, 2025

Lajoie’s 11th of the season came two minutes later as a blast by Hunter Laing found the pads of Giants goaltender Burke Hood, who failed to squeeze the rebound, allowing Lajoie to shovel the puck between his pads.

Jett pokes home his 11th of the season to double the lead!#NHLDraft | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/YOHiOcqK7x pic.twitter.com/tLH6E9puoX

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 8, 2025

Mazden Leslie made it a 3-2 game on the man-advantage, cashing in on a loose puck in the crease Cougars goalie Josh Ravensbergen was unable to secure in time.

Kmec salted away the victory for the Cougars with an empty-net goal.

PG got off to a fast start in the first period courtesy of a Riley Heidt blast that went over the shoulder of Hood.

The Cougars squandered a couple of prime scoring opportunities later in the period to extend the advantage.

Valis led a 2-on-1 transition rush and found Terik Parascak who’s shot went straight to the pad of Hood who went post-to-post keeping Vancouver in reach.

While on a breakaway, Valis was held up by a Giants defender near the crease and was awarded a penalty shot. The 20-year-old from Colorado glided into the zone, leaned into a wrist shot and rung it off the cross bar.

Like a hungry colony of bees, the Giants came out buzzing in the second period.

This led to a flurry of early chances, the best one came point blank towards the Cougars goal as the shot deflected off the funny bone of Riley Heidt.

Not long after, Vancouver rookie Brett Olson rung the iron on a 3-on-1 saving the bacon of Ravensbergen.

Local product and elite sniper Cameron Schmidt pulled the visitors even at 13:14 of the middle frame wiring a wrist shot under the bar.

PG received a late power-play to try and re-take the lead following a Colton Alain high-sticking infraction, but Hood turned aside a trio of chances from Lee Shurgot, Koehn Ziemmer and Kmec.

“You can’t put your finger on it. It happens and you talk about it but if you have good thirds that is the main thing,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager.

“I thought we lacked some energy and some emotion and that is why it looked like that. I really liked a lot of the things we did with our structure and how we played – we limited their chances and when they did get one Rav(ensbergen) was there for us.”

The Cougars outshot Vancouver 29-28. Vancouver went 1-for-2 on the man-advantage while PG failed to score on three tries. Ravensbergen was named third star thanks to a 26-save performance.

Hood also made 26 saves in defeat for Vancouver.

Giants head coach Manny Viveiros spoke with MyPGNow.com post-game noting his team left a few good chances on the ice, which ended up being the difference in the divisional battle.

“I liked our game. I thought we had some good chances and good looks but a couple of calls didn’t go our way and they capitalized on it but I liked the way we played tonight.”

Vancouver (19-15-4-0), who sits seventh in the Western Conference, one point back of Tri-City is getting some solid goaltending from the 17-year-old Hood who is the reigning WHL Goalie of the Week.

Viveiros stated he has given them a chance to win lately and for a rookie has become quite battled tested.

“I like the progression, and he has come in and played solid lately and what I really like about him is if he doesn’t have a great outing, he comes out strong the next time. He has a really good head on his shoulders and understands what it takes to be a goaltender in this league.”

“We have proven we can play with the PG’s and some of the other teams in our division but it’s just the consistency that we need as a group and you are going to have that with a young team. This is the youngest team the Vancouver Giants have ever had but I like where our kids are progressing for sure.”

DUB#ForTheNorth . #WHL pic.twitter.com/6LW073URdt

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 8, 2025

The WHL Trade Deadline is set for late Thursday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the Giants were active on trade market dealing goaltender Matthew Hutchinson along with fourth and seventh round draft picks to the Moose Jaw Warriors for 19-year-old netminder Brady Smith.

Vancouver then flipped, overage forward Tyson Ziemmer to the Wenatchee Wild for Russian 20-year-old Maxim Muranov.

Muranov was acquired by Wenatchee over the weekend from the Calgary Hitmen in the Daniel Hauser deal.

The Cougars on the other hand made a big trade – in size only I might add acquiring 19-year-old, 6’5 blueliner Aleksey Chichkin from the Regina Pats for a fourth-round pick in 2027.

Chichkin also spent time in the WHL with the Calgary Hitmen and also enjoyed a BCHL stint with the Merritt Centennials during the 2022-23 season amassing seven points in 31 games.

When asked if maybe the deadline is weighing on the minds of the players, Lamb noted everyone handles it a little bit differently.

“I think there is nerves for everyone near the trade deadline. Some guys it bothers, some guys it doesn’t – it depends on their personalities but it’s right around the corner.”

It’s been an arms race to say the least in the Central Division with the Calgary Hitmen, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers all claiming premier names off the board.

For example, in the past five weeks, the Hitmen have acquired forward Tanner Howe (from Regina), overage goaltender Daniel Hauser (Wenatchee) defenceman Kalem Parker (Moose Jaw) and Sawyer Mynio (Seattle) as well as 19-year-old forward Carson Birnie from the Red Deer Rebels.

Lethbridge has acquired high-scoring forward Brayden Yager and goaltender Jackson Ungar from Moose Jaw while also striking a deal with Kelowna to acquire defenceman Caden Price.

The Hurricanes also brought in overager Jordan Gustafson from the Seattle Thunderbirds after being returned from the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights.

Lastly, McBride’s Tanner Molendyk was flipped by the Saskatoon Blades to the Medicine Tigers for a package of draft picks and prospects.

Lamb said the furious activity among division rivals is far from uncommon – even though the pace of such transactions might be.

“I have seen this before especially if a team is hosting the Memorial Cup. We saw it with Swift Current. Moose Jaw and Regina a few years ago. They are really going against each other but only one team is going to win.”

PG (23-10-3-2) remains two points up on the Victoria Royals (21-11-3-4) for top spot in the BC Division crown – the Cougars have one game in hand.

Victoria skated to a 4-1 road victory on Tuesday against the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Teydon Trembecky scored twice in the win for the Royals.

Both the Giants and Cougars wrap up the mid-week double-header tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm.