The Prince George Cougars closed one of the franchise’s most successful calendar years on a road win over a division rival last night.
The win came over the last-place Kamloops Blazers, 4-1 in front of 4951 fans.
The Blazers opened the scoring 2:17 in, Kai Matthew scored off a Tyson Buczkowski turnover behind the net.
Despite tallying 34 shots, that would be Kamloops’ lone goal of the game.
Carlin Dezainde collected a goal and an assist within 55 seconds of one another about 10 minutes later to lead the Cougars to a 2-1 lead after the first.
Riley Heidt’s second period goal is what everyone will remember from the game.
Riley, you need to stop. You smoke too tough. Your skating too smooth. Your hands too quick. They'll kill you.#mnwild @mnwild https://t.co/33kP62GeLQ pic.twitter.com/Jjly18qe4a
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) December 31, 2023
Heidt would seal the deal late in the third with an empty netter, his third point of the evening.
Ty Young earned his second straight win, making 33/34 saves following a 35 save performance against Calgary on Thursday.
Prince George was 1/3 on the powerplay and 2/2 killing penalties.
They improve their season record to 26-10-0-0, sitting firmly on top of the Western Conference – 5 points ahead of second place Wenatchee.
Prince George is also first in the WHL, one point ahead of Saskatoon having played one more game.
Kamloops falls to 9-22-3-2, last in the West, six points out of a playoff spot.
This is the first stop on a five game road trip, the Cougars next game is in Wenatchee on Wednesday.
You can find the boxscore here.
The win caps off what is a very impressive calendar year.
In the calendar year of 2023, the @PGCougars had a (regular season) record of 49-18-2-1.
Riley Heidt, who is a hot topic right now, had 30 goals, 86 assists, 116 points in 68 games played in 2023.
He is now 11 away from most points in Cougars history.#mnwild pic.twitter.com/tYC4VNdM7H
— Will Peters (@WillPeters_1) December 31, 2023