The Prince George Cougars, who lead the BC Division, are swept by the Portland Winterhawks 4-0 in their season series. Additionally, this game is rather traditional in comparison to the previous three; there are no last-minute victories or multi-goal comebacks.
Josh Zakreski scored Portland’s final three goals, and Kayd Ruedig’s first goal of his career gave them the lead they never lost.
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Game preview
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Game thread with game updates and postgame reaction.
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The off day forum
Scoring summary
| 1st 4:48 POR Kayd Ruedig (Tyson Yaremko, Tyson Jugnauth) 1-0 | A long shot by Jugnauth doesn t get all the way through, but Yaremko takes the puck from Evan Groening and gets it back to the line to Ruedig. With Prince George scrambling a bit, Ruedig makes a nice move to get past Groening and take an open shot from the right dot to beat Joshua Ravensbergen for his first WHL goal. |
| 1st 9:12 POR Josh Zakreski (Diego Buttazzoni, Kayd Ruedig) 2-0 | Zakreski with a sharp-angle goal from below the right dot, not a great one for a top goalie to give up. Buttazzoni gained the blue line and passed it to Zakreski. Ruedig made the outlet from his own zone. |
| 1st 11:55 PG Borya Valis 2-1 | Valis steals the puck along the boards from Kyle Chyzowski, giving PG a very close-in 2 on 1. Ondrej t bet k really commits to the pass, but Valis keeps it and puts it in the top corner. |
| 2nd 9:51 POR Josh Zakreski (Kayd Ruedig, Diego Buttazzoni) 3-1 | Ruedig s long shot is blocked at the low slot, but it bounces right to Zakreski on the back door for the quick finish. Buttazzoni swung the puck over to Ruedig. |
| 3rd 9:23 POR Josh Zakreski (Tyson Jugnauth, Alex Weiermair) 4-1 | Jugnauth weaves down the left wing and the passes back into the slot for a Zakreski one-timer and the hat trick. Weiermair picked up a long rebound off a previous chance by Zakreski and got it to Jugnauth. |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 32:52 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 22:20 |
| Tied | 4:48 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 0:00 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Narratives
Pregame: The Winterhawks were attempting to pull off an unusual season sweep of Prince George and were aiming for back-to-back victories over a division leader. The Cougars wanted to win their US week two out of two. Riley Heidt, the squad captain, will return shortly after being cut by squad Canada at the World Juniors, but not for this match. Both clubs have the top players in goal. Joel Plante, who came over from the BCHL, makes his WHL debut.
First period: In a thrilling period, the Winterhawks took a 2-1 lead. In a close sequence of play, they capitalized on their opportunities to take a 2-0 lead. After after, PG had a strong run that gave them a shooting edge and allowed them to reclaim one goal.
In the second quarter, the Cougars scored more points than the Winterhawks once more, but the Winterhawks maintained their lead. The stronger team was Portland.
Third quarter: PG never truly threatened, as Portland scored the lone goal thanks to a clever defensive third period. Two serious penalties for nasty hits by PG’s 16-year-old fourth liners were the only noteworthy things.
1. Goaltending was the key to victory. Although Ondrej T. Bet K. took the goalie’s points by a significant margin—a major upset in comparison to expectations—Joshua Ravensbergen wasn’t bad.
2. Despite allowing 40 shots, Portland’s defense played a fairly steady game. Koehn Ziemmer, Terik Parascak, and Viliam Kmec, all over a point per game, were scoreless.
Important stretch/moment: In the first half, with Portland ahead 1-0, Ziemmer missed a nearly open net. A little later, Josh Zakreski made it 2-0.
It should come as no surprise that neither club has a special teams advantage because they are both excellent at them.
Surprise: Portland is swinging wildly in the game, which is decided at even strength.
Controversies:Prince George s two 16-year-olds, Kayden Lemire and Patrick Sopiarz taking major penalties in the last half of the 3rd period. And Jett Lajoie had a high crosscheck in the 2nd that could have been penalized more harshly. The Cougars fancy themselves a physical team, but considering all four games they ve been the least disciplined team against Portland all season. They lost at least two of the earlier games as a result.
You would have to declare that the best team won. Which might not have been the case in the three previous Portland wins.
Injuries/suspensions:Lemire and Sopiarz should both get suspensions, possibly multi-game suspensions. Lemire s high hit might have put Ryan McDonough in concussion protocol, and it s questionable whether he plays Saturday. Sopiarz s was more dirty, and came in the last minute with everyone looking to run the clock out. So he might get more, although there was no apparent injury.
The players
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 3 goals | Second hat trick of his career and season. |
| Kayd Ruedig | POR | 1 goal, 2 assists | First WHL goal and his first multi-point game. |
| Ondrej t bet k | POR | 39 saves-40 shots | Third win of the season against the Cougars. |
| Tyson Jugnauth | POR | 2 assists | 5-game point streak, and increases his defenseman scoring lead in the league to 6 points. |
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 2 assists | 5-game point streak. |
| Borya Valis | PG | 1 goal | 4-game point streak, takes over the team scoring lead with their only pint of the game. |
| Tyson Yaremko | POR | 1 assist | |
| Alex Weiermair | POR | 1 assist | A point per game through 3 games with the Winterhawks. |
| Joshua Ravensbergen | PG | 30 saves-34 shots | The 2-0 goal was not great, and that hurt given the game situation. Winterhawks did a pretty good job getting bodies around him. |
| Viliam Kmec | PG |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Chyzowski | POR | 4-game point streak snapped. | |
| Koehn Ziemmer | PG | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| Carson Carels | PG | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| Terik Parascak | PG | 3-game point streak snapped; not much impact for PG s now-2nd-leading scorer. | |
| Joel Plante | POR | Played on the 2nd line on his Portland debut. Took a couple of penalties; showed he might have a decent shot. |
Postgame
| Winterhawks | Cougars | |
|---|---|---|
| Record |
16-12-2 (.567) |
16-9-3-2 (.617) |
| Goals/game |
3.8 |
3.9 |
| Goals allowed/game |
3.9 |
3.4 |
| Team shooting % |
.112 |
.121 |
| Team save % |
.888 |
.892 |
| Power play | 28.1% | 24.8% |
| Penalty kill |
80.7% |
82.8% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.3 | 3.9 |
| Power plays against/game |
3.8 |
4.1 |
| Outshooting opponents | 10-19-1 |
15-14-1 |
| After 1 period |
8-12-10 |
13-5-12 |
| After 2 periods |
10-15-5 |
12-9-9 |
| Score, last 10 games |
44-38 (+6) |
33-35 (-2) |
| Score, last 20 games |
73-75 (-2) |
80-70 (+10) |
Portland Winterhawks
With two home games left before the break, they have a chance to go into the break on a great note.
Before the season, you could have seen the Portland-Prince George season series going 4-0, but not to the Winterhawks.
Prince George Cougars
It s disappointing for Riley Heidt to get cut from Team Canada, but Prince George needs him, and right away. They need all the leadership they can get. They re still in 1st in the BC Division, by games in hand, but it really seems like something is missing. They have plenty of time to catch themselves, And there s a very good chance they get another shot at the Winterhawks in March.
Next games
Saturday 12/14 vs. Seattle, 6pm PST
Tuesday 12/17 vs. Spokane, 7pm PST
Looking ahead:Friday 12/27 vs. Tri-City, 7pm PST
Next road game:Saturday 12/28 at Tri-City, 6pm PST
Next game with Prince George:The playoffs aren t out of the question.
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