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Prince George centre Heidt WHL's player of the week

Cougar sniper recorded his first WHL hat trick in Sunday's 6-4 win over Vancouver
riley-heidt-autograph-session-nov-13-2022
WHL player of the week Riley Heidt signs an autograph during the post-game skate with Cougar fans after he collected the first hat trick of his WHL career in a 6-4 win over the Vancouver Giants at CN Centre.

Riley Heidt is living up to his billing as a blue-chip NHL prospect.

The 17-year-old Prince George Cougars centre has earned his first WHL player-of-the-week award.

In three games, the Saskatoon native collected three goals and six assists. His three-goal performance in Sunday’s 6-4 win over the visiting Vancouver Giants marked the first hat trick of Heidt’s WHL career. That left Heidt tied for sixth in WHL scoring with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) and it solidifies his status as an ‘A’ prospect (potential first-rounder) for the 2023 NHL draft.

Heidt centres the Cougars’ top scoring line and his favourite target has been linemate Koehn Ziemmer, who put up seven points (two goals, five assists) in the Cougars’ past three games. Ziemmer now has 33 points (second in the league, 10 points behind Regina’s Connor Bedard) and his 15 goals ranks third in the WHL (Bedard leads with 18).

The Cougars started last week with an 8-6 loss in Kelowna on Wednesday, then fell 5-4 to the Giants Friday at CN Centre.

The big 50-50 draw Sunday afternoon and Coastal GasLink-sponsored Community Heroes Night on Saturday, coupled with the generosity of an anonymous donor who bought 2,000 tickets for each game for frontline workers and community leaders, led to the two largest Cougar crowds of the season at CN Centre. The crowd count Saturday was 4,463 while Sunday’s attendance was 4,821.

Jonathon Peters was the big winner of the Cougars’ first Mega 50-50 jackpot Sunday afternoon and went home from the game with half the pot, a $72,668 windfall.

The Cougars (10-9-0-0, fourth in Western Conference) hit the road Wednesday bound for Victoria, where they’ll take on the last-place Royals (3-14-3-0).

Bedard, considered the likely first-overall pick in next year’s draft, will visit Prince George for the first time with the Regina Pats when they play the Cougars on Friday, Dec. 2.

The Cougars will be back on home ice on Wednesday, Nov. 23 when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors.