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WHL Prince George Cougars

Heidt's Record Breaking Night Lifts Cougars over Rockets

March 9, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Prince George Cougars News Release


KELOWNA, BC - The Prince George Cougars kicked off their four-game road trip in style with a convincing 6-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday at Prospera Place.

Riley Heidt and Hudson Thornton led the way for the Cougars, combining for six assists in the win. For Heidt, he collected his 60th assist of the season which puts him 1st all-time in Cougars history for assists in a single season. Tyler Brennan earned the win in goal, making 16 saves.

The Cougars carried the play in the opening period and at one point were outshooting the Rockets 12-2. Both teams traded power-plays, however, the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes.

Kelowna started the scoring at 3:10 of the second period with captain Gabriel Szturc scoring on a breakaway. The Cats responded with a power-play goal at 7:14 when Koehn Ziemmer redirected a Riley Heidt pass by Jari Kykkanen to tie the game at one. The Rockets re-gained the lead with Carson Golder ripping one by Tyler Brennan at 11:59 to make it 2-1. The Cougars kept pushing back and got a fortuitous bounce when the puck went off a Rocket defender in front of the goal to make it a 2-2 game after 40 minutes.

In the third, the Cougars ran away with this one. The Cougars scored four unanswered goals, three of which came on the power-play. Ethan Samson scored a power-play goal at 2:31 to give PG the lead. Just over three minutes later, Fischer O'Brien found Cayden Glover in front of the goal to make it 4-2 at 5:46. At 9:09 of the third, Chase Wheatcroft put home his 42nd goal of the year on the man-advantage with Riley Heidt collecting the record-breaking assist, and then Ondrej Becher added to the lead with a power-play goal of his own at 12:09.

GAME NOTES

-The Cougars remain 4th place in the Western Conference

-Riley Heidt becomes the Cougars single-season assists leader in team history

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring

Cougars: Ziemmer, Funk, Samson, Glover, Wheatcroft, Becher

Rockets: Szturc, Golder

Goaltending

Cougars: Tyler Brennan (W) 60:00 (2 GA, 16 Saves)

Rockets: Jari Kykkanen (L) 60:00 (6 GA, 41 Saves)

Shots

Cougars: 47

Rockets: 18

Three Stars

1. PG: Hudson Thornton (3A)

2.PG: Riley Heidt (3A)

3.PG: Jaxsen Wiebe (1A)

Next Game: Friday March 10th against the Victoria Royals at the Save on Foods Memorial Centre.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2023


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