Just his puckin’ luck.
In his first true playoff run, Terik Parascak came up huge for the Prince George Cougars.
The 17-year-old from Lethbridge, Alberta potted a hat-trick in the Cougars 6-1 thrashing in Game One on Friday in front 5,892 fans at a raucous CN Centre over the Spokane Chiefs.
After a shaky first five minutes, which saw PG give up several high-quality chances including a Connor Roulette goal, the Cougars got back to business and schooled the youthful Chiefs.
Less than forty seconds later, Ondrej Becher sent the home crowd into a frenzy capitalizing on a Zac Funk feed, beating Spokane netminder Dawson Cowan to even the score at 1-1.
Parascak scored his first of three on the man-advantage as a Funk blast was bobbled by Cowan, allowing the impressive rookie to cash in on the rebound.
Keaton Dowhaniuk added to the lead as his point blast cleanly beat Cowan giving the Cats a commanding 3-1 edge after 20 minutes.
“I thought a lot of the chances that they did get were pretty big turnovers on us. They were self-inflicted by us and Ravensbergen had to make a couple of really good saves,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager.
“Parascak had 10 shots after the third and I thought he could have had six or seven tonight and he has been doing it all year. Now as we head into playoffs, he is a special player that plays a 200-foot game that he creates a lot of offense in.”
In the second, Spokane became unglued as their lack of discipline, including many stick infractions led to PG power-plays.
After tapping his second of the game in a goal-mouth scramble, Parascak completed the hat-trick on the man-advantage. A cross-ice feed from Becher found the rookie who was again camped out in front of the Spokane goal.
The Super 𝐃𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 Rookie!
2024 #NHLDraft prospect Terik Parascak nets a hat-trick in his first game of the 2024 #WHLPlayoffs presented by @NutrienLTD!@PGCougars | #FeedingtheFuture pic.twitter.com/HrHX5mWrEP
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 30, 2024
“We have confidence in our group that we can play with any team in the league and we expect to win. That one goal didn’t faze us at all and we have to be resilient through those moments as you have ups and downs in playoffs.” said Parascak post-game to MyPGNow.com.
“Our line kind of clicks together, it’s everything we do – we feed off each other and work really well together so the chemistry we have built helps us all out.”
Borya Valis added a single in the third period thanks to a strong individual effort.
Prince George outshot the Chiefs 51-25 and went 3-for-10 on the power-play while visitors were 0-for-4.
Spokane head coach Ryan Smith stated the parade to the penalty box really sagged the emotion right out of his team and allowed the Cougars to play keep-away with the puck.
“We can’t play 20 minutes shorthanded. It’s impossible, it is something that we talked about before the game and it was tough to see us parading the penalty box time after time.”
“They are the top team and, in the country, (Prince George), they have a good power-play – you just can’t do that. Ten is just a number that is inconceivable and a lot of them were lazy stick penalties and after the whistle things that doesn’t need to happen this time of year.”
Some things need to be appreciated in slow motion.@spokanechiefs | #FeedtheFuture | #2024NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/MaVLBHNIsg
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 30, 2024
Despite giving up six goals, Chiefs netminder Dawson Cowan turned aside 45 saves, while Josh Ravensbergen was a lot less busy in the Cougars cage turning aside 24 of 25 Spokane attempts.
“He was outstanding. It could have been 10 or 12 for them – he was excellent. They even took a couple off the line and he stopped a couple breakaways. It wasn’t fair to him, he was very good tonight,” added Smith.
The top-ranked Cougars take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series.
Game Two is set for tomorrow (Saturday) at 6pm from CN Centre.
The second night of the WHL Playoffs saw some pretty eye-brow raising results.
PG’s Cameron Schmidt was named the game’s first star after a two-goal performance in a 6-4 Vancouver Giants win over the Everett Silvertips south of the border.
Vancouver leads the best-of-seven 1-0.
Elsewhere, Wenatchee won a Wild one over Kelowna by an 8-6 margin while the Portland Winterhawks squeaked past the Victoria Royals 4-3 in their respective Game Ones.
Some things need to be appreciated in slow motion.@spokanechiefs | #FeedtheFuture | #2024NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/MaVLBHNIsg
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 30, 2024
In the Eastern Conference, the top-ranked Saskatoon Blades evened up their best-of-seven at one game apiece after a 4-1 win over the Prince Albert Raiders.
After trailing 4-0, Kalan Lind completed the comeback for the Red Deer Rebels 5-4 in double-overtime against the Medicine Hat Tigers (RD leads the series 1-0).
Finally, the high-powered Moose Jaw Warriors outlasted the Brandon Wheat Kings 7-4 led by two goal efforts from Martin Rysavy and Brayden Schuurman.
The Swift Current Broncos blanked the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0.
PG’s Miguel Marques did not dress for the Hurricanes – he was their leading scorer in the regular season with 74 points.
The Broncos and Warriors hold serve up a game each in their respective series.