Two weeks ago, Prince George Cougars centre Riley Heidt was reminded of the hazards of hockey when an errant high stick cost him a couple of teeth and broke his jaw.
With his jaw wired shut and sporting a full face shield Friday night at CN Centre, Heidt put on his work attire and got back to doing what Cougars fans have come to expect - scoring goals and setting up teammates.
The 19-year-old from Saskatoon returned to spectacular form getting reacquainted with linemate Terik Parsacak’s on the Cats’ top scoring line and finished with a three-point night in a 5-2 win over the Kamloops Blazers in front of a crowd of 3,945.
Heidt assisted on Parascak’s 12th of the year eight minutes into the game which tied the game 1-1, then scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season to put the Cougars in the driver’s seat.
Heidt popped in the rebound of a goalpost rattler from Koehn Zimmer for his second of the night early in the third period opened up a 4-2 lead before rookie defenceman Artemi Anisimov went backhand-forehand and lifted a shot from the circle into the net behind Dylan Ernst – the first goal in the WHL career for the native of Kazan, Russia, who turns 17 on Monday.
Joshua Ravensbergen stopped 19 of 22 shots to improve his record to 11-2-3-1. The Cougars outshot the Blazers 31-22.
Jett Lajoie also scored for the Cougars, the 10th of the season for the rookie centre.
Parascak, who also had a helper on Heidt’s goal in the third period, finished with three assists. Lee Shurgot had two assists.
Kai Matthew, Jordan Keller and Tommy Lafreniere were the Kamloops goalscorers.
The game ended a six-game homestand for the Cougars (13-5-3-2), who took nine of possible 12 points during that stretch. They remain first in the BC Division, eight points ahead of the Blazers (11-11-1-0).
The Cougars will be back on the ice Sunday afternoon in Langley to face the Vancouver Giants.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars went into the game averaging 3,905, sixth in the WHL. D Ephram McNutt missed his eighth game with a broken hand… Wenatachie Wild head coach Don Nachbaur, a Kitimat native who grew up in Prince George, recorded his 700th career WHL win when the Wild beat Kelowna on Wednesday. Nachbaur, 65, ranks third on the all-time list behind Don Hay (750) and Ken Hodge (742). Nachbaur started out coaching the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1994-95 and also coached in Spokane and Tri-City…. Ravensbergen will leave the Cougars after Sunday’s game to travel to Ontario for the CHL USA Prospects Challenge. He’s among 10 CHL players picked for the games in Sarnia on Tuesday and Oshawa on Wednesday.
