Wheatcroft’s 5 Point Night Leads Cougars to 6-3 Victory Over Kelowna
PRINCE GEORGE BC – The Prince George Cougars earned a character 6-3 victory over the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday at the CN Centre.
Chase Wheatcroft led the way for PG, collecting 5 points, his 100th point of the season, and was named the first star. Ethan Samson, Blake Eastman, Caden Brown, and Koehn Ziemmer also scored in the win, while Tyler Brennan made 27 saves for his 19th victory of the season.
The Cougars started the scoring at the 6:10 mark when captain Ethan Samson zipped right up the middle and ripped one by Jari Kykkanen to give the Cats the lead. Just over a minute later, Rockets captain Gabriel Szturc hammered a one-timer on the power-play by Tyler Brennan to knot the game at one. In the final minutes of period one, Chase Wheatcroft scored a gorgeous goal set up his line-mates Riley Heidt and Koehn Ziemmer to give the Cats the lead after one.
Wheatcroft added to the lead in the second, tapping a loose puck by Kykkanen to make it 3-1 just 38 seconds into the period. Kelowna cut back into the lead, getting a power-play goal from Adam Kydd at 4:19. The Cougars were assessed a 4-minute penalty shortly after, and were able to kill it off, capped off by a save of the year candidate from Tyler Brennan. After that save, the Cougars scored two more in a span of 1:07 to make it 5-2. Blake Eastman and Caden Brown were the goal scorers to get the Cats up by 3 goals after two.
In the third, PG added one more from Koehn Ziemmer who fired one by Kykkanen at 8:55. The Rockets responded with one of their own from Ethan Mittelsteadt and that was as close as Kelowna would come. The Cougars finish the season series 7-2 vs Kelowna and now are two points away from clinching home ice advantage in the 1st round of the WHL Playoffs.
GAME NOTES
-The Cougars remain 4th place in the Western Conference and the magic number to clinch 4th is at 2 points
-Chase Wheatcroft becomes the 2nd Cougar ever to eclipse 100 points in a single season
– Tyler Brennan has won 13 of his last 16 starts
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Cougars: Samson, Wheatcroft (2), Eastman, Brown, Ziemmer
Rockets: Szturc, Kydd
Goaltending
Cougars: Tyler Brennan (W) 60:00 (2 GA, 27 Saves)
Rockets: Jari Kykkanen (L) 60:00 (6 GA, 34 Saves)
Shots
Cougars: 40
Rockets: 30
Three Stars:
1.PG: Chase Wheatcroft (2G 3A)
2.PG: Koehn Ziemmer (1G 2A)
3.PG: Tyler Brennan (27 Saves)
Next Game: Friday March 17th against the Victoria Royals at the CN Centre at 7:00
