The season for both the Victoria Royals and Prince George Cougars could swing on the 14 points the Cougars have taken from the Royals so far. The Cougars recorded their seventh consecutive WHL victory over Victoria with a 4-1 victory Wednesday before 1,426 fans at CN Centre. It came after Prince George’s 5-3 win Tuesday to open the set.
The game was closer than the score might indicate with the Cougars scoring two empty-net goals to seal it.
“It could have gone either way,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price. “We had our chances and I feel for our guys because they deserved to tie it.”
The Cougars have already at least assured a tie in the season series. The Royals, however, can still make some sort of amends when the teams meet seven more times.
Prince George (17-17-2) has five players ranked by Central Scouting for the 2022 NHL draft, which is second most in the WHL. Some of that prospective Cougars talent might finally be emerging as the Cougars won their fourth consecutive game to move to .500. The Royals (12-18-4), meanwhile, lost their fifth consecutive game.
Koehn Ziemmer showed why he will be a factor in the 2023 NHL draft by scoring twice in the first period to stake Prince George to a 2-0 lead.
Brayden Schuurman, the 58th-ranked North American skater for the 2022 NHL draft, brought Victoria to within one in the second period with his 21st goal. Empty-netters by captain Jonny Hooker and Riley Heidt, the latter another Cougars player who will be highly rated for the 2023 NHL draft, put it away.
Prince George gave Tyler Brennan, the top-ranked North American goaltender for the 2022 NHL draft, the night off. But the Cougars don’t give much away with back-up Ty Young, the 21st-ranked North American goalie for the draft, making 22 saves. Tyler Palmer made 31 saves in goal for Victoria.
The Royals return to the Memorial Centre to meet Vancouver and Everett on Friday and Saturday.
