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WHL Prince George Cougars

Preview: Cougars Return Home to Face Rebels

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


The Prince George Cougars return to the confines of the CN Centre to begin a three-game home stand which starts tonight against the Red Deer Rebels at 7:00 pm.

The Cougars finished their five-game eastern road swing with a 5-0 blanking over the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday, November 4th at the Art Hauser Centre in PA. Josh Ravensbergen shined in the Cougar net, posting a 38-save shutout. Nicholas McLennan registered his first WHL goal, while Zac Funk, Terik Parascak, Koehn Ziemmer, and Oren Shtrom also all found the back of the net in the win. "It was a great response game for the whole group," commented Assistant Coach Carter Rigby following the win. "The final game on a road trip, you really want to simplify things and I thought we did a really good job of that."

The Red Deer Rebels finish off their BC division road swing in Prince George tonight. The Rebels are 1-2-0-1 on the trip with the most recent contest resulting in a 4-3 setback to the Vancouver Giants. Red Deer currently sports a 6-9-0-2 record and sit 10th in the Eastern Conference. Offensively, the Rebels are led by 20-year-old Carson Latimer who has collected 17 points in 17 games (8-9-17).

THE BERGER:

Cougars rookie netminder Josh Ravensbergen repeated as the WHL's Goaltender of the Week, the league announced Monday. Ravensbergen is the first back-to-back winner and first repeat winner of WHL Goaltender of the Week honours this season. The 16-year-old product of North Vancouver, B.C., went 1-0-0-0 with a 0.65 goals-against average, .980 save percentage and one shutout across two appearances this past week. Ravensbergen's first appearance came Friday, November 3 as he entered the contest in relief during the second period of play. Over 32:20 of crease time, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound puck stopper turned aside 10 of the 11 shots he faced, finishing the night with no decision in a 5-3 loss to the Saskatoon Blades. The rookie netminder was given the start Saturday, November 4 at Prince Albert, where he made 38 saves and was perfect in a 5-0 shutout victory over the Raiders. Ravensbergen stopped 16 shots during the first period of play, before then facing 11 shots in each of the second and third periods. He was named the First Star of the game.

CLIMBING THE RANKS:

Earlier this week, the Cougars were ranked 2nd in the CHL Top 10 - Week 5. Leading the way for Prince George was Los Angeles Kings prospect Koehn Ziemmer (1G-3A) and Minnesota Wild 2023 second-rounder Riley Heidt (2G-2A) who both had four points during the Cougars' slate of three games last week. Ziemmer now has points in eight of his last nine, having collected four goals and 15 points over that stretch. At the same time, Heidt is riding a nine-game point streak (4G-11A), and he's been held off the scoresheet just once in 15 games this season. The Cougars are currently the top-ranked WHL team.

ZAC ATTACK:

Earlier this week, Cougar forward Zac Funk was named the WHL's Player of the Month. At the time of the award being announced, Funk recorded 30 points (14G-16A) in 14 games to start the season atop the WHL scoring charts heading into November. Funk's 14 goals rank third in the WHL, while his 16 assists are good enough for to leave him tied for fourth in the League. "It's an honour to be named Player of the Month. This doesn't happen without my teammates," Funk humbly said. "We are gelling right now, and I think that has really helped with everything and hopefully we keep it going."

PERRY THE POINT PRODUCER:

Earlier this week, Cougar rookie sensation Terik Parascak was named the WHL's Rookie of the Month. Parascak, 17, recorded 29 points (17G-12A) in 14 games to start the season and sits second in WHL scoring behind his teammate Zac Funk, who was named WHL Player of the Month today. Parascak's 17 goals rank first among all WHL skaters. "It's an honour to win this award," commented Parascak. "It's something that keeps motivating me to get better and hopefully keep producing and most importantly, helping our team win." The product of Lethbirdge has been the most unstoppable rookie to start the 2023-24 WHL campaign, named WHL Rookie of the Week on three separate occasions. Parascak, a 5-foot-11, 179-pound right winger, started the season by securing 12 points (8G-4A) in four consecutive games from Friday, September 22 through Saturday, September 30, including a season-high six-point (4G-2A) outburst Friday, September 29 in an 11-2 win at Victoria.

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