
BY COLE WALDIE
Prince George Cougars
The Prince George Cougars are off and running to kick off the Western Conference Championship after a 5-0 blanking of the Portland Winterhawks, Friday at the CN Centre.
Josh Ravensbergen earned his third shutout of the post-season, making 33 saves on 33 Portland shots. Terik Parascak, Bauer Dumanski, Hudson Thornton, Ondrej Becher, and Koehn Ziemmer delivered the Cougar offence in the victory.
GOALS
1st Period
1-0 Cougars at 1:43 – Terik Parascak (6) assisted by Riley Heidt and Viliam Kmec // Riley Heidt was able to steal a Portland pass in the offensive zone and spotted Terik Parascak all alone and fired the puck by Jan Špunar to give the Cats a 1-0 lead.
2nd Period
2-0 Cougars at 8:19 – Bauer Dumanski (1) – assisted by Zac Funk and Borya Valis // Cougar forwards Borya Valis and Zac Funk were able to carry the puck through the neutral zone and Funk spotted Bauer Dumanski streaking up the right wing and the blue-liner slid the puck through the legs of Špunar to give Prince George a 2-0 lead.
3-0 Cougars at 14:02 – Hudson Thornton (4) – assisted by Riley Heidt and Terik Parascak // A Terik Parascak shot from the left wing was tipped by Riley Heidt that was initially stopped by Špunar, and then the puck found its way to Hudson Thornton who unleashed a slapshot from the top of the left circle and solved the Portland goaltender to make it 3-0 PG.
4-0 Cougars at 18:14 – Ondrej Becher (4) – assisted by Koehn Ziemmer // Koehn Ziemmer made a terrific pass, to Ondrej Becher and the Czechian forward lifted a backhand shot by Špunar to propel the Cougars’ lead to 4-0.
3rd Period
5-0 Cougars at 15:45 – Koehn Ziemmer (2) (PP) – assisted by Carlin Dezainde and Bauer Dumanski // The Cougars held possession of the puck below the Portland goal-line on the power-play and forward Nate Danielson tried to slide the puck out of harms way, however, the puck found Koehn Ziemmer in the slot and fired home his second of the post-season to make it 5-0.