Hunter Laing had a big weekend on the ice for the Prince George Cougars, earning the 17-year-old winger the WHL’s Kal Tire Rookie of the Week Award.
Laing scored a goal in the Cougars 4-1 win over the visiting Victoria Royals on Friday. Then in the rematch at CN Centre he scored two goals and picked up an assist in what turned out to be a 9-6 Prince George victory.
The six-foot-six, 192-pound Kelowna native finished the two-game set with a plus-2 rating. He now has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in 52 games.
The Cougars drafted Laing in the second round 33rd overall in the2021 WHL Prospect draft.
NHL Central Scouting, in its midseason rankings, lists Laing as the 108-ranked North American skater available for the 2024 NHL draft.
Cougars winger Terik Parascak, who broke the Cougars single-season record for goals by a rookie with his 31st in Friday’s game, has been chosen four times this season for the WHL rookie award, while goalie Josh Ravensbergen has won it once.
The Cougars (35-15-3-0, first in BC Division) are back in action this Friday at CN Centre (7 p.m.) against the Kamloops Blazers (16-30-3-2, fifth in BC).
Zac Funk, the Cougars’ leading goalscorer, will be shooting for 50 on Friday. He’s five goals shy of the Quinn Hancock's single-season record for most goals by a Cougar, set in 1997-98.
Funk’s 49 goals and 37 assists add up to 86 points, one behind Cougars leading point getter Riley Heidt (27-60-87), who ranks second in the WHL scoring race and is four points behind Moose Jaw's Jagger Firkus (40-51-91).
