Koehn Ziemmer’s nose for the net keeps detecting the smell of victory for the Prince George Cougars.
Just like he did the previous night against the Victoria Royals, in Wednesday’s rematch Ziemmer scored two goals early on and that paved the way for a 4-1 triumph in front of an announced crowd of 1,426 at CN Centre.
The 17-year-old winger has been the most prolific scorer in the Western Hockey League since Dec. 14 with 13 goals and seven assists in a span of 11 games. Ziemmer’s knack for creating offence kickstarted the Cats to their fourth straight win and doomed the Royals, 5-3 losers on Wednesday, to their seventh loss in seven games this season against Prince George.
Ziemmer banged in the rebound of a Jaren Brinson shot to open the scoring 5:15 in. Just before the midway mark of the opening period Ziemmer broke in on a 2-on-1 with Riley Heidt and fooled goalie Tyler Palmer with a backhand-to-forehand deke he ended by putting the puck under Palmer’s pad into the net. https://whl.ca/video/whl-highlight-of-the-night-january-19-2022
Ty Young made 22 saves in goal for the Cougars – the second career WHL victory for the 17-year-old rookie. Young was especially sharp in the second period when the Cougars were outplayed and outshot 12-7. Brayden Schuurman scored his 21st goal to cut the lead in half, his first point all season against the Cougars.
It remained a close game until the Royals called Palmer to the bench for the extra skater and the Cougars scored twice into the empty net. Jonny Hooker picked up his 12th goal and Heidt added his 10th, with an assist from Ziemmer.
Shots were 35-23 in the Cougars’ favour.
Neither team scored on their power-play chances. The Royals went 0-for-3 and the Cougars were 0-for-2.
The Cougars (17-17-1-1) climbed back to the .500 mark and remained sixth in the Western Conference standings, four points ahead of the seventh-place Vancouver Giants. The Royals (12-18-4-0) remained eighth in the conference.
The Cougars host the Kamloops Blazers in their next game Friday at CN Centre, the first of a home-and-home series that continues Saturday in Kamloops.
