The end of 2021 and the start of 2022 have not been kind to the Prince George Cougars.
Their winless streak is now at five games after their 7-1 loss to the Kamloops Blazers at the Sandman Centre on New Year’s day.
Hudson Thornton scored the Cougars’ lone goal in the third period, as he picked up his seventh goal of the season. Tyler Brennan started in net and surrendered six goals on 21 shots. He was replaced by Ty Young in the second period who stopped seven of eight.
The start was the Cougars’ undoing, as Kamloops scored four times in the opening 20 minutes, as they took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. The Blazers outshot Prince George 13-2 in the opening frame.
Kamloops padded their lead with two more goals in the middle frame to go up 6-0 after two periods. They added one more goal in the third to cap off their scoring.
The Blazers put up seven goals without two of their top scorers in Logan Stankoven and Josh Pillar. Both missed the game due to injury.
The Cougars did pick up a hard-fought point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Kamloops Blazers on New Year’s Eve at CN Centre.
The Cougars came from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits, including scoring late in the third to force overtime.
The penalties turned out to be costly, as the Blazers scored twice on five power play chances, including a four-minute man advantage in the first period. The Cougars couldn’t cash in on any of their four power plays.
Carlin Dezainde scored his first goal as a Cougar on a breakaway in the first period. Koehn Ziemmer scored in the middle frame and Riley Heidt lit the lamp in the final period of regulation. Ziemmer finished with two points and Ethan Samson had a pair of assists on Friday. Tyler Brennan stopped 32 of 35 shots through regulation and overtime.
Prince George managed to kill-off a Blazers’ power play in overtime to extend the game to the shootout. Bankier and Minten both scored in the skills competition for Kamloops. Koehn Ziemmer and Riley Heidt were the two Prince George shooters who failed to score.
It was a solid debut for Jonas Brøndberg, as the Danish defenceman had an assist and three shots on net in his Cougars debut.
The Cougars are now 2-4-0-1 against the Blazers in seven games this season. The two teams resume their season series on January 21st, in Prince George.
The Cougars next play the Victoria Royals on Friday and Saturday at CN Centre.
