The Prince George Cougars might have lost their mojo out on Vancouver Island, but they re-gained their offensive mojo on their return home.
Goals in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game by Terik Parascak and Aleksey Chichkin paced the Cougars to a 5-2 victory over the injury-riddled Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday in front of 2,907 fans at CN Centre.
“It was nice to get back in the win column but it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t easy at all. We were kind of lucky to get those two goals and that was kind of the game. They pushed pretty hard,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and GM.
After what looked to be a sluggish defensive zone sequence, the top line of Koehn Ziemmer, Riley Heidt and Parascak turned it into overdrive after gaining hold of the puck, rushing up the ice.
Ziemmer dropped back to Parascak who paused and unleashed a hard wrist shot past the glove hand of Rockets goaltender Rhett Stoesser.
“It wasn’t pretty but we stuck with it throughout the whole game but ultimately we stuck with it enough to come out with a W.” said Ziemmer post game.
A minute and twenty seconds later, Chichkin let go of a hard point shot from the far side of the blueline that beat Stoesser for a 2-0 Cougars lead.
That ended the night for Stoesser who allowed two goals on five shots and was replaced by Jake Pilon.
Prince George continued its relentless pursuit of the puck early in the second period. This time it would be the checking line getting rewarded for its gritty efforts.
A shot from inside the Rockets blueline by Corbin Vaughan, who returned after serving a 10-game suspension led to a mad scramble that was finished off by Kayden Lemire who jammed home the loose puck.
List of people you shouldn’t leave in front of the net:
-Connor McDavid
-Kayden Lemire@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/UnWIq78XCE pic.twitter.com/LFOHX3ag3Q— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 26, 2025
The Cougars could have very easily turned this game into a cakewalk but were denied by Pilon or the post.
Right after a spirited scrap involving PG defenseman Fraser Leonard and Rockets tough guy Andrew Petruk, Ziemmer and Heidt came in on a 2-on-1 rush – however, the Los Angeles Kings prospect rung the puck off the post.
Later on, Aiden Foster took a quick shot that was initially juggled by Pilon but found its way into the glove.
Kelowna built up some late momentum as Owen Folstrom was stopped on a breakaway by Cougars netminder Josh Ravensbergen. The light seemed to have come on for the visitors, pouncing on the lackadaisical defensive coverage.
A shot from the slot from Kalder Varga was denied by Ravensbergen but Kayden Longley found the rebound and put it through the legs of the 18-year-old from North Vancouver.
Ravensbergen had to be sharp to begin the third period making a should stop on a Hiroki Gojsic one-timer along with some outstretched larceny on Hayden Paupanekis, keeping his glove along the goal line to deny what looked to be a sure-fire goal.
🎥 SAVE OF THE NIGHT 🎥
I’ll have the Save Of The Night Berger with extra desperation, please.@RealCdnSS | @PGCougars | #NHLDraft | #SaveOfTheNight pic.twitter.com/vcTzrLdRY8
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) February 26, 2025
Ben Riche stuck the dagger into the hearts of the reeling Rockets, capitalizing on a one-time feed from Borya Valis to make it 4-1.
Paupanekis trimmed the deficit to a pair of goals while on a Rockets man-advantage as his slapper just went over the shoulder of Ravensbergen.
With Pilon pulled in favour of the extra-attacker, a turnover outside the Rockets blueline was gobbled up by Ziemmer who made the home crowd happy by scoring his seventh free pizza goal of the season, courtesy of Dominos.
Who else but Koehn! Ziemmer slides it into the empty net and we all get Domino’s!
5-2 Cougars! pic.twitter.com/Ny026yrJNP
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 26, 2025
Prince George went 0-for-1 on the power-play while Kelowna was 1-for-3. The Cougars outshot the Rockets 37-29.
It is safe to say there is no place like home for the Cougars who are 19-4-3-2 at CN Centre, the third-best winning percentage at home, trailing only the Calgary Hitmen (.815) and the Everett Silvertips (.776).
“We love playing at home.” said Lamb. “Some guys played well tonight but it certainly wasn’t a Picasso or anything like that. It’s nice to win but we can improve on that.”
The Cougars (32-19-4-2) find themselves seven points back of the Victoria Royals (34-15-3-6) for top spot in the BC Division. PG has one game in hand, which they will burn tonight (Wednesday) against Kelowna.
Kelowna on other hand, finds itself in rebuild mode for the 2026 Memorial Cup.
This year’s playoffs seem like a distant dream as they are 10 points back of the Seattle Thunderbirds for eighth spot with 11 games remaining.
Kelowna (17-34-4-2) was without Utah Hockey Club prospect Tij Iginla, overage forward Max Graham, 20-year-old Michael Cicek and defenceman Carter Kowalyk.
Puck drop is 7:00 from CN Centre.
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