PREVIEW: Cougars Battling for Top of Western Conference; Host Giants This Weekend

PRINCE GEORGE BC – Tonight, at the CN Centre, the Prince George Cougars host the Vancouver Giants in their final home double-header of the regular season. Tonight’s game is slated for 7:00 pm.

The Prince George Cougars put together an incredible third-period comeback, which resulted in a 5-4 overtime win. Riley Heidt netted the OT winner for the Cougars and goaltender Ty Young made 18 saves in the victory.

 

PG GOAL SCORERS: Danis, Dezainde, Kmec, Funk, Heidt

GOALIE: Young – 18/22 (.818)

PP: 2/6

PK: 4/6

COUGARS LAST FIVE RESULTS, Record: 4-0-1-0

DATE	RESULT	GWG	PG GOALIE	OPP. GOALIE
February 20, 2024	PG [5] vs SEA [1]	Funk	Ravensbergen	Ratzlaff
February 23, 2024	PG [5] at KAM [1]	Parascak	Young	Sanche
February 24, 2024	PG [6] at KEL [5] (SO)	Becher (SOW)	Ravensbergen	Kykkanen
March 1, 2024	PG [4] vs SPO [5] (OT)	Crampton	Ravensbergen	Cowan
March 2, 2024	PG [5] vs SPO [4] (OT)	Heidt	Young	Michaluk

 

COUGARS UPCOMING SCHEDULE

DATE	TIME (PDT)	OPPONENT	VENUE
March 8, 2024	7:00pm	vs Vancouver Giants	CN Centre
March 9, 2024	6:00pm	vs Vancouver Giants	CN Centre
March 13, 2024	7:05pm	at Kelowna Rockets	Prospera Place
March 15, 2024	7:00pm	at Victoria Royals	Save on Foods Memorial Arena
March 16, 2024	6:00pm	at Victoria Royals	Save on Foods Memorial Arena

 

2023-2024 REGULAR SEASON SERIES

Nov. 14/2023 – at Prince George (5-0 PG)

Nov. 15/2023 – at Prince George (6-1 VAN)

Nov. 17/2023 – at Vancouver (5-0 PG)

Dec. 16/2023 – at Vancouver (9-2 PG)

Feb. 2/2024 – at Vancouver (3-2 VAN)

Mar. 8/2024 – at Prince George

Mar. 9/2024 – at Prince George

Mar. 17/2024 – at Vancouver

2022-2023 REGULAR SEASON SERIES

Oct. 7/2022 – at Vancouver (5-4 PG/SO)

Oct. 21/2022 – at Vancouver (4-1 PG)

Nov. 12/2022 – at Prince George (5-4 VAN)

Nov. 13/2022 – at Prince George (6-4 PG)

Dec. 4/2022 – at Vancouver (6-3 PG)

Feb. 24/2023 – at Vancouver (5-4 PG/OT)

Feb. 28/2023 – at Prince George (6-0 PG)

Mar. 1/2023 – at Prince George (6-2 VAN)

2023-2024 REGULAR SEASON STATS LEADERS

Goals (59): Zac Funk

Assists (69): Riley Heidt

Points (103): Zac Funk

PIMS (115): Aiden Foster

Plus/Minus (+45): Zac Funk

2023-2024 REGULAR SEASON GOALTENDING LEADERS

Wins (22): Joshua Ravensbergen

Save % (.913): Joshua Ravensbergen

Goals Against Average (2.32) – Joshua Ravensbergen

Shutouts (6): Joshua Ravensbergen

COUGARS CAREER MILESTONES WITHIN REACH:

Hudson Thornton – 199 career games played (1 away from 200)

Hudson Thornton – 185 career points (15 away from 200)

Zac Funk – 96 career assists (4 away from 100)

WHO’S HOT

Zac Funk has points in 6 straight games (8-5-13)

Riley Heidt has points in 8 of his last 9 games (6-12-18)

Ondrej Becher has points in 5 of his last 6 games (3-7-10)

Hudson Thornton has points in 8 consecutive games (2-9-11)

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8 GAMES REMAIN: The Cougars enter tonight with a 41-15-1-3 record (86 points) on the season through 59 games which has won the BC Division and leads the Western Conference. The Cats are 22-7-1-1 at home and 19-8-0-2 on the road this season.

DC GETS FUNKY: 20-year-old sniper Zac Funk has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Washington Capitals. Funk is the third 20-year-old in the last two seasons to sign an NHL deal (Chase Wheatcroft, 2023, DAL – Jaxsen Wiebe, 2023, ANA).

BC DIVISION CHAMPIONS: For the first time since 2017 and for the second time in franchise history, the Prince George Cougars were crowned BC Division champions on Saturday, February 24^th after a 6-5 shootout win over the Kelowna Rockets.

AGAINST THE BC DIVISION: The Cougars enter tonight’s contest against the Giants with a 18-4-0-2 record against the BC division and are 32-12-1-3 against the Western Conference.

THORNTON HITS THE 200 CLUB: Cougars Captain Hudson Thornton will suit up for 200^th WHL game tonight. The franchise leader among defenceman in points, assists, and goals, is the fourth Cougar to reach the 200-game plateau (Heidt, Dowhaniuk, Funk, Pauls).

ZIEMMER GETTING CLOSE:  Cougar forward and Los Angeles Kings prospect Koehn Ziemmer is now 2-3 weeks before returning to game action for the Cougars. Ziemmer suffered a lower-body injury in late November against the Everett Silvertips. He has returned to Prince George and is back on the ice practicing with the team.

CHL TOP TEN: The WHL is represented by five teams in the Week 22 rankings. Prince George (2), Saskatoon (5), Portland (7), Everett (8), and Moose Jaw (10). The Cougars have been named in the CHL Top 10, 21 of 22 weeks.

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PRE-GAME INTERVIEW WITH GM & HEAD COACH MARK LAMB

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