An intense storm blew across Southern Alberta bringing along some gale force winds.
Somebody forgot to tell the Prince George Cougars.
The labouring BC Division leaders were blown away literally and figuratively on Friday night, dropping a 7-3 road decision to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in front of 3,546 fans at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
Will Sharpe only needed 4:45 to open the scoring putting a wrist shot on net that was juggled and squirted past Cougars netminder Josh Ravensbergen.
After a successful pinch inside the PG blueline, Kooper Gizowski leaned into a blistering puck past a screened Ravensbergen to double the Hurricanes advantage.
POWER PLAY GOAL!!!! Sharpe with a rocket of a slap shot making it 5-2 at 4:44 in the 3rd period – Assisted by Wormald and Marques pic.twitter.com/LiQh9kNl99
— Lethbridge Hurricanes (@WHLHurricanes) October 19, 2024
The Cougars showed some signs of life in the second period, starting with a Jett Lajoie breakaway marker, his team-leading 7th, which tucked through Lethbridge goalie Brady Smith.
Signed Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Noah Chadwick snuffed out any sort of momentum PG gained as he pounced on a puck that boomeranged back to him off the sweater of Viliam Kmec during an off-man rush to make it 3-1.
Ephram McNutt added to the quick-strike offense as he drove to the top of the blue paint deflecting a Koehn Ziemmer blast, trimming the deficit back down to one.
However, Ziemmer would end up wearing the goat horns as his holding minor in the final minute of the middle period led to a Shane Smith power-play goal restoring the two-goal margin.
Smith was acquired by the Canes in a trade with Medicine Hat in exchange for overage goaltender Harrison Meneghin.
In the third, the roof caved in on the struggling Cougars giving up a trio of goals in less than three minutes to Smith, Sharpe and Logan Wormald.
Ziemmer potted his fourth of the season on the power-play from Borya Valis and Terik Parascak.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Hurricanes outshot the Cougars 39-25. Lethbridge went 2-for-7 on the power-play while the PG scored once on seven opportunities.
Ravensbergen stopped 32 pucks in defeat while Smith turned aside 22 Cougar shot attempts in the victory.
Where this admin is from, we call that “The Banana”
Laing and Lajoie connect to make it a one goal game@PGCougars | @NHLFlames | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/5Vbzaio9Sa
— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 19, 2024
Not to be outdone, PG’s Miguel Marques, a signed draft pick of the Nashville Predators had a whale of a game collecting five assists. The 18-year-old has ten points in six games this season.
His running mates, Chadwick and Sharpe also enjoyed four-point outings.
Tonight’s Two Guys 3 Stars is a sweep 🧹⭐️⭐️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/aVIpTGGUvo
— Lethbridge Hurricanes (@WHLHurricanes) October 19, 2024
Lethbridge is 6-1-1-0 on the season, second in the Eastern Conference.
PG drops to 6-4-2-1, one point up on the Victoria Royals for the BC Division Lead – the Royals, who beat the Prince Albert Raiders 6-4 on Friday night, have four games in hand on the Cougars.
Both teams will clash at the CN Centre next Friday (7pm) and Saturday (6pm).
GOAL!!! Tip tip tip by Smith to extend the Hurricanes lead to 6-2 at 5:59 in the 3rd period – Assisted by Sharpe and Chadwick pic.twitter.com/NlJgDP4o5L
— Lethbridge Hurricanes (@WHLHurricanes) October 19, 2024
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