Game Preview | Cougars at Giants | 02/17/25
LANGLEY, BC – The Prince George Cougars will try to collect another victory as they begin a three game road-trip starting this afternoon against Vancouver Giants.
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When: Monday, Feb. 17
Puck Drop: 2:00 pm
Listen: 94.3 The Goat
Watch: WHL Live
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Cougars Record: 31-16-4-2 (68 points / 4th – Western Conference / 2nd – BC Division)
Cougars Last Game: A 5-1 win over the Everett Silvertips on Saturday, Feb. 15
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Giants Record: 26-21-6-0 (58 points / 7th – Western Conference / 3rd – BC Division)
Giants Last Game: A 4-3 shootout win over the Victoria Royals on Saturday, Feb. 15
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Last Game:
• Koehn Ziemmer tied Chase Witala’s PG Cougars all-time goal record (120 goals)
• Josh Ravensbergen picked up his 27th win of the season, marking him tied for first in the WHL in wins
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Previous Meetings vs. Vancouver this season…
January 8th – Ben Riche played hero in his Cougar debut, scoring the game-winning goal in the final seconds of the third period to help PG to a 6-5 victory.
January 7 – Riley Heidt’s three point performance helped the Cougars to a 4-2 win over Vancouver.
November 24 – Goaltender Carter Capton made his WHL debut for Vancouver and shined, making 22 saves in a 4-3 win for the Giants
November 10 – Koehn Ziemmer delieverd the OT heroics on Community Heroes night to give the Cougars a 5-4 win
November 9 – Koehn Ziemmer’s hat-trick and a four point night from Borya Valis helped the Cats a to 7-1 win over Vancouver at CN Centre
September 27 – Borya Valis compiled three points in a 6-3 win over the Giants at the Langley Events Centre
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Ziemmer Watch…
Koehn Ziemmer enters tonight one goal shy of becoming the PG Cougars goal-leader. He currently owns 120 career goals, just one shy of surpassing alumnus Chase Witala who also has 120 career tallies.
On the Road Again..
• The Cougars enter this afternoon’s contest with victories in their last two road games and points in their last three. Prince George is 13-12-1-0 away from the CN Centre.
Another Accolade?
Cougars captain Riley Heidt is closing in on another accolade. The teams’ all-time points leader is now just three shy of reaching 350. He collected his 347th career point in the win over Everett on Feb. 14.
In Goal…
• Entering today’s game, the Cougars have a busy schedule ahead, therefore, it will be interesitng to see what Mark Lamb and his staff decide to do in the net today for Prince George. If they go back to Josh Ravensbergen, he will try to capture his 28th win which would lead all WHL goaltenders. Ravensbergen played both contests against the Everett Silvertips at the CN Centre. Should they go to Cooper Michaluk, he has helped the Cougars to collecting points in 4 of his last 5 starts.
On the Other Side…
• The Vancouver Giants enter today’s game with wins in two of their last three games. Like the Cougars, Vancouver is fighting and vying for playoff position, as they currently sit one point behind the Tri-City Americans for 6th place in the West and three behind the Portland Winterhawks for fifth.
• All season long, Vancouver has been led offensively by Prince George product Cameron Schmidt who owns 61 points (34-27-61) in 47 games. Schmidt enters today against the Cougars with 0 goals in his last four games.
• In goal, Vancouver has been getting fantastic performances from Burke Hood. His most recent contest was in the shootout win over Victoria on Saturday, Feb. 15 where he made 27 saves on 30 shots. It has been a joint effort however, between both Hood and Brady Smith. Hood sports a 12-10-5 record, along with a 3.51 goals against and a .898 save percentage. Smith enters today with a 13-11-1 record in 28 games, and also owns a 3.65 goals aganinst and a .894 save percentage.
Injury/Roster Updates:
• Defenceman Bauer Dumanski remains day-to-day with a lower body injury
• Defenceman Corbin Vaughan is serving his 7th game of his 10-game suspension
What’s Next After This Game.
Next Games: Friday, Feb 21 and Saturday Feb. 22 @ Victoria
