BY COLE WALDIE
Prince George Cougars
The Prince George began their Western Conference Semi-Final series with a 4-0 blanking of the Kelowna Rockets, Friday at the CN Centre.
Josh Ravensbergen delivered his first career WHL playoff shutout, making 21 saves on 21 Kelowna shots. Ephram McNutt, Terik Parascak, Keaton Dowhaniuk, and Borya Valis supplied the Cougar offence in the victory.
GOALS
1st Period
1-0 Cougars at 18:34 – Ephram McNutt (1), assisted by Zac Funk and Ondrej Becher // The Cougars were creating havoc in front of goaltender Jari Kykkanen, and it was led by Ondrej Becher and Zac Funk who both had chances to score in tight. However, Ephram McNutt made a heads-up play, jumping into the action, getting the puck in the slot and fired it top corner by a sprawling Kykkanen to make it 1-0.
2nd Period
2-0 Cougars at 3:24 – Terik Parascak (5) (SH) Unassisted // Terik Parascak was able to intercept a pass from a Rocket at the blue-line, and it translated into a short-handed breakaway for the rookie forward and he made no mistake, going five-hole on Kykkanen to make it 2-0.
3rd Period
3-0 Cougars at 1:34 – Keaton Dowhaniuk (3), assisted by Riley Heidt and Terik Parascak // After Koehn Ziemmer skated onto the ice after serving a penalty, he was able to spot Terik Parascak who kickstarted an odd man rush as the puck then found Riley Heidt who spotted Dowhaniuk at the left circle and he wired a wrist shot by the glove of Kykkanen to extend the Prince George lead.
4-0 Cougars at 4:02 – Borya Valis (3), assisted by Zac Funk and Chase Pauls // The Cougars, once again, developed an odd-man rush as Zac Funk spotted Borya Valis in the back door and he tipped it by Kykkanen to give the Cougars a 4-0 stranglehold.