Cougars Come up Short in 3-2 Loss to Rockets
Published on February 7, 2026 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Prince George Cougars News Release
PRINCE GEORGE, BC - Inside an electric CN Centre for Indigenous Weekend, the Prince George Cougars dropped a tightly contested 3-2 decision to the Kelowna Rockets on Friday night. Dawson Seitz and Brock Souch scored for the Cougars, while Josh Ravensbergen turned aside 27 of 30 shots in the loss. Prince George finished 0-for-3 on the power play, while Kelowna went 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
"It was a heck of a hockey game. In the first period, I thought we gave them too many odd-man rushes and we fixed that, but what we haven't fixed is penalties," said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. "That's how you lose, so it really bothers me, and it's happening over and over."
The opening frame featured end-to-end speed and quality chances at both ends. It also included a spirited fight at the 4:34 mark, as Bauer Dumanski dropped the gloves with Tomas Poletin. Carson Carels nearly opened the scoring, ringing a shot off the crossbar from the left circle. Kelowna broke through late in the period at 17:33, when Connor Pankratz buried a one-timer from the left circle off an odd-man rush to give the Rockets a 1-0 lead. Kelowna held a 12-10 edge in shots after 20 minutes.
The Cougars responded early in the second period with two goals in quick succession. At 1:36, Dawson Seitz scored his third goal as a Cougar, converting his own rebound to tie the game at one. Just under two minutes later, Brock Souch ripped a one-timer from the right circle at 3:11 to give Prince George a 2-1 lead. Kelowna answered only 20 seconds later, as a dump-in took a sharp bounce off the end boards and Owen Folstrom poked the puck home from in tight to even the score at two. Both goaltenders were sharp the rest of the period, keeping the game deadlocked through 40 minutes.
In a hard-fought third period, the Rockets capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play. Tij Iginla fired a shot from the high slot on the two-man advantage at 6:29 to give Kelowna a 3-2 lead. The Cougars pushed hard in the final minutes with the net empty, highlighted by a one-timer from Terik Parascak at the bottom of the left circle that was turned aside by Harrison Boettiger's right pad, preserving the Rockets' lead and sealing the 3-2 win.
The Cougars and Rockets conclude the season series tomorrow night at 6:00 pm for night two of Indigenous Weekend.
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