Cougars Fall Just Short in 4-3 Loss to Thunderbirds
PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The Prince George Cougars concluded their three-game home stand with a 4-3 setback to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday at the CN Centre. Terik Parascak, Jett Lajoie, and Kooper Gizowski each found the back of the net, while Josh Ravensbergen was tagged with the loss after relieving Alexander Levshyn, who left the game late in the first period with an injury.
Seattle opened the scoring 4:07 into the game when Braeden Cootes made a great pass to Brendan Rudolph, who tipped the puck past Levshyn to make it 1-0 Thunderbirds. Then, at the 13:37 mark on a Seattle power play, Cootes fired a wrist shot from the left circle to extend the lead to 2-0. The Cougars responded at 16:20, as Terik Parascak scored a highlight-reel goal to cut the deficit to 2-1. The score remained 2-1 Seattle after 20 minutes.
In the second period, the Cougars received tremendous goaltending from Ravensbergen, and midway through the frame, they found the equalizer at 11:27. Jett Lajoie jammed in a power-play goal to tie the game at two. Late in the period, Vancouver Canucks 2025 first-round pick Braeden Cootes struck again, finding space in the high slot and netting his second of the game to restore the Thunderbird lead. Seattle led 3-2 after 40 minutes.
The Cougars tied the game once more early in the third period, again on the power play. Kooper Gizowski ripped his 11th goal of the season past goaltender Grayson Malinoski at 1:33 to make it 3-3. However, Seattle regained the lead late, as Sawyer Mayes tucked a loose puck past Ravensbergen at 16:05 to make it 4-3. In the dying seconds, with just 0.2 seconds left, the Cougars won an offensive zone faceoff, and Parascak rang a shot off the post as the Thunderbirds escaped with the 4-3 victory.
Post-Game Interview with GM & Head Coach Mark Lamb
