Game Preview | Cougars vs. Hitmen | 01/03/26
PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The Prince George return home for a five-game home-stand that kicks off tonight against the Calgary Hitmen at 6:00 pm. Tonight marks the first home for the Cougars in 2026 and the one and only meeting with the Hitmen this season. Tonight marks the first time Calgary has come to Prince George since December 27/23 – a span of 738 days.
vs. HITMEN: Tonight marks the one and only meeting of the season between the Prince George Cougars and the Calgary Hitmen. The last time the Hitmen played the Cougars at CN Centre was December 27/2023 which saw the Cougars edge the Hitmen by a 4-3 score. The last meeting between the two clubs was on Thanksgiving Monday in Calgary in 2024, where the Hitmen blanked the Cats 5-0.
LAST GAME: 6-5 OT Loss at Penticton Vees: The Prince George Cougars dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to the Penticton Vees on Thursday, January 1st . Townes Kozicky, Brock Souch, Kooper Gizowski, Dmitri Yakutsenak, and Shaun Rios scored in the loss for Prince George. Alexander Levshyn made 39 saves on 45 shots.
2025-2026 REGULAR SEASON SERIES:
January 3/2026 – vs Calgary
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
January 6/2026 – vs Penticton
January 7/2026 – vs Penticton
January 10/2026 – vs Everett
January 11/2026 – vs Everett
January 16/2026 – at Kamloops
January 17/2026 – at Kelowna
January 18/2026 – at Vancouver
2025-2026 REGULAR SEASON LEADERS:
Goals (19) – Terik Parascak
Assists (29) – Brock Souch, Kooper Gizowski
Points (44) – Kooper Gizowski, Terik Parascak
Penalty Minutes (58) – Aiden Foster
Plus/Minus (+8) Brock Souch, Arsenii Anisimov
Wins (16) – Josh Ravensbergen
Goals Against Average (2.50) – Josh Ravensbergen
Save Percentage (.921) – Josh Ravensbergen
Shutouts (2) – Josh Ravensbergen
LAST FIVE GAMES:
January 1/2026 – at Penticton (6-5 PEN/OT)
December 30/2025 – at Kamloops (5-3 KAM)
December 28/2025 – vs Victoria (3-2 PG/OT)
December 27/2025 – vs Victoria (6-1 VIC)
December 17/2025 – at Everett (3-2 EVT/OT)
REGULAR SEASON MILESTONE WATCH:
Bauer Dumanski is 5 points away from 100 career points
Terik Parascak is 10 goals away from 100 career goals
Carson Carels is 5 games away from 100 career games
Kooper Gizowski is 10 points away from 150 career points
Shaun Rios is 1 goas away from 30 career goals
Arsenii Anisimov is 6 games away from 100 career games
WHO’S HOT:
Terik Parascak has points in straight games (0-5-5); 4 of his last 5 (0-6-6)
Josh Ravensbergen has won 8 straight games; 10 of his last 11
Carson Carels has points in 6 of 7 games (3-4-7); 8 of his last 10 (3-8-11)
Kooper Gizowski has points in 10 of 14 games (4-11-15)
Brock Souch has points 12 of 17 games (7-13-20)
Aiden Foster has points in 3 of 4 games (2-2-4)
COUGARS NEWS AND NOTES:
THRU 36: The Prince George Cougars enter tonight with a 23-11-2-0 record (48 points) on the season after 36 games. The Cougars are 12-5-0-0 at home and 11-6-2-0 on the road. The Cats posted a 6-3-1-0 record in the month of December. The Cougars own the WHL’s top power-play, going 43-127 (33.9%). As for the penalty kill, the Cats ranks second in the WHL at 82.9%.
CALLED UP: The Cougars have called up defenceman Cooper Bratton (09) from the Regina Pat Canadians of the Saskatchewan Under 18 league. Bratton, a signed prospect of the Cougars, was selected in the second round by the Cats in the 2024 WHL Prospect Draft. This season with the Pat Canadians, the Moosomin, SK product owns 25 points in 24 games and is also the team captain.
OH CANADA: Goaltender Josh Ravensbergen and defenceman Carson Carels are with Team Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Minnesota. This marks the first time in team history two Cougars are on the same Team Canada World Junior roster. Ravensbergen headed to camp with a WHL leading 16 wins and has won eight consecutive games. Ravensbergen was invited this past summer to Canada’s National Summer Showcase. For Carels, he is one of two underage (2008-born) defenceman that was invited to camp. Carels owns 29 points in 28 games and earned the opportunity to play for Team CHL at the CHL/USA Prospects Challenge. Carels is no stranger to Hockey Canada as he won a gold medal at the U18 World Championship and a Bronze at the Hlinka-Gretzky Tournament this past summer.
WHL TOP PROSPECTS: Defenceman Carson Carels will be one of the 40 skaters to participate in the WHL Top Prospects game on February 18th at the Langley Events Centre. Carels will be one of the blue-liners for the Western Conference. More names will be announced leading up to the Top Prospects Game.
TRADE WITH RED DEER: On Monday, December 15, the Cougars traded forward Patrick Sopiarz (08) to the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for a 2026 third round pick and a conditional fourth round pick in 2029. In 79 career games with the Cougars, Sopiarz owned six points (4-2-6).
HOME SWEET HOME: Tonight’s matchup against the Hitmen will mark the Cougars 18th home game of the season. The Cats own an impressive 12-5-0-0 record at CN Centre. Tonight marks the one and only time PG will host the Hitmen. The Cougars own a winning percentage of .706 at home which ranks first in the BC Divison.
200 WINS: On Wednesday, December 3rd, General Manager and Head Coach Mark Lamb earned his 200th career win behind the bench as the bench boss for Prince George. Lamb becomes just the second Cougars coach in team history to reach this mark. Ed Dempsey is currently the Cougars’ winningest coach with 216 wins. Throughout Lamb’s 200 victories showed multiple accolades including a BC Division Crown in 2024, and the WHL’s Coach and Executive of the Year in 2023-24.
