That will make up for a sleepless night.
Ben Riche played the role of hero in his first game as a Prince George Cougar scoring the game-winner with 43 seconds left, snatching a wild 6-5 come-from-behind victory against the Vancouver Giants in front of a boisterous crowd of 3,129 fans at CN Centre on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old from Bethune, Saskatchewan pick-pocketed Giants defenseman Colton Roberts behind the net and fired a quick shot past the five-hole of Brady Smith sending the home fans in a frenzy.
“That was a pretty exciting one for me for sure at home and with a new team, I am really excited about that one (goal),” said Riche post-game.
BEN RICHE STEALS THE GAME ON HIS FIRST DAY AS A COUGAR!!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/EwJWE1dyQF pic.twitter.com/Ia8wOAxYWz
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 9, 2025
Riche was acquired by the Cougars via the Saskatoon Blades Wednesday morning, which saw 18-year-old forward Hunter Laing, 15-year-old blueline prospect Luke Dumas, a 1st round pick in 2026 and a 5th rounder in 2028.
It was a whirlwind day for the 19-year-old who found out about the deal while on the Blades team bus heading to Edmonton following a 3-2 overtime win against the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday.
Riche told the media after the game he went to bed at 1am and was woken up at 3:30 due to the fire alarm going off at the Blades hotel.
Already short on sleep, he headed to the Edmonton International Airport three hours later to catch a direct flight to the northern capital where he landed at roughly 9:30 Pacific Time.
The late-game heroics began with less than two-minutes remaining when PG product Cameron Schmidt was assessed a slashing penalty, breaking the twig out of Riche’s hands.
With Josh Ravensbergen pulled for the extra-attacker, the Cougars set up a 6-on-4 power-play where a quick pass by Borya Valis, slid to the top of the blue paint, where Terik Parascak lied in wait and made no mistake sliding it into an open cage.
TERIK PARASCAK BRINGS THE PIZZA AND TIES IT LATE!@Capitals | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/vECEaWxtUM pic.twitter.com/rZ38wRSvZ5
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 9, 2025
At the conclusion of the game, Giants bench boss and Manny Viverios and Schmidt gave a piece of their minds to the officiating crew Taylor Burzminski and Alex Homer regarding the late penalty that cued the Cougar comeback.
“You have a couple of those games every year where you were up and down and it seems like you can’t keep it out of your net and they can’t keep it out of theirs either. It was kind of a nice script for the new guy that’s for sure. Pulling the goalie, getting a power-play goal and then setting it up for the game-winner was real nice,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager.
“This guy (Riche) is more proven then Chase Wheatcroft and Zac Funk when we traded for them. He comes to us as our leading scorer that is a pretty good pedigree.”
Heading into the third period tied 3-3, goals came fast and furiously in the final 20 minutes.
Viliam Kmec notched his second of the game less than 30 seconds into the frame accepting a Valis feed, his one of three assists in the game that handcuffed Smith for a 4-3 edge.
However, the Cougars would suffer an ill-timed cat nap inside their defensive zone for several minutes allowing no shortage of chaos in front of Ravesnbergen.
Calgary Flames prospect Jaden Lipinski slapped home the frozen black disck into the PG net past Ravensbergen to even the score at 4-4 – the goal was set up by none other than Schmidt who fired the pass from the corner.
Maxim Muranov then lit the lamp for a second time in the contest as he pounced on a juicy rebound after a brief flurry where Ravensbergen made the two initial saves – the 20-year-old Russian rifled it over the glove hand and under the bar putting Vancouver in the drivers seat.
It looked as if the Cougars would blow their chance to tie it as Jett Lajoie got in-tight on Smith but was unable to tuck the puck inside the post – the heroic effort of Giants import Adam Titlbach along the goal line prevented a would-be empty-net goal from going in.
The high-tempo game began in the first period where Vancouver struck first courtesy of Tyus Sparks who cashed in on a scramble play past the outstretched Ravensbergen, who made a spectacular initial save on Brett Olson from the slot.
Kmec brought the home crowd out of their seats with an eye-popping end-to-end rush where the Slovakian drove wide on Giants defender Mazden Leslie, lifting the puck over the shoulder of Vancouver goalie Brady Smith for a 1-1 score after 20 minutes.
VILIAM KMEC 😳🤯@GoldenKnights | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/vwnZM66j1l pic.twitter.com/ysBKjRCGxb
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 9, 2025
Both teams continued to bring the offensive heat into period two, starting off with a wicked pass from Titlbach who found Conner Levis on a clear-cut breakaway but was stoned by Ravensbergen.
Leslie made it 2-1 Giants on the power-play as his one-timer that was set up by Ryan Lin went over the shoulder of Ravensbergen.
Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb made the first major line change of the game re-uniting the dynamic duo of Koehn Ziemmer and Riley Heidt and boy did it pay dividends.
What looked to be a harmless shot off the far boards by Ziemmer found its way to Heidt who re-directed a puck past Smith to even the score at 2-2.
The scoring chances continued to flow for both teams but were briefly outshone by the goalies.
Lajoie was stoned by Smith of a saucer pass from Matteo Danis. Minutes later, Heidt rung the iron behind Smith drawing a few gasps from the CN Centre crowd.
Ravensbergen then made a nice shoulder save on a one-timer from London Hoilett.
Corbin Vaughan gave PG a 3-2 lead as his one-time slapshot rippled the mesh of the Vancouver net – for the 18-year-old from Merritt this was his 1st goal of the season after being acquired in a trade from the Regina Pats.
Corbin Vaughan’s first as a Cougar!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/bVCcBWc0kI pic.twitter.com/YensqJINdf
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 9, 2025
Muranov tied it back up for the Giants fifty seconds later as the Russian’s unsuspecting shot found its way through the five-hole of Ravensbergen.
PG had a golden opportunity to hold serve prior to the intermission as a Hoilett high-sticking infraction put the Cougars on the man-advantage.
The top unit of Heidt, Ziemmer, Ben Riche, Parascak and Kmec toyed with the Giants inside their zone but were unable to get one past Smith despite dazzling the crowd with their puck movement.
PG outshot Vancouver 34-31. The Giants went 1-for-3 on the man-advantage while the Cougars were 1-for-5.
PG (24-10-3-2) moves four points ahead of Victoria for top spot in the BC Division.
Vancouver drops to 19-16-4.
A quick two-game road trip awaits the Cougars, with stops in Kelowna Friday and Kamloops Saturday.
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