Riley Heidt of the Prince George Cougars skates onto Blanshard Street tonight where many players have recorded assists in a Cougars jersey.
It is a touchy issue after a franchise moves. Do the statistics from its previous city carry over with the franchise to its new location? The Colorado Avalanche say yes and incorporate the statistics from the seasons when the NHL franchise was known as the Quebec Nordiques. So do the Arizona Coyotes regarding the original Winnipeg Jets from 1972 to 1996.
Prince George meets the Victoria Royals tonight and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The Royals have counted the statistics from the five seasons the Western Hockey League franchise skated as the Chilliwack Bruins. The Prince George Cougars, however, do not count the 22 seasons that franchise played in the capital as the Victoria Cougars from 1971-72 to 1993-94 before being moved to Prince George.
Heidt was proclaimed by the club as the Cougars’ all-time single-season leader in assists when he recorded his 60th this week. With all due respect to Heidt, a fine player and the 26th-ranked North American skater for the 2023 NHL draft, but old-school Victoria hockey fans can be excused if they place an asterisk beside the record. It is factually accurate Heidt has the most assists in a season since the Cougars have been in Prince George.
But the history of the franchise goes back further than that and whether it is the “franchise” record is a matter interpretation. That can be viewed as being held by former Victoria Cougar Simon Wheeldon with 96 assists in 1985-86, followed by Jim Gustafson with 94 in 1975-76, Mel Bridgman with 91 in 1974-75 and Barry Pederson with 88 in 1979-80 and 82 in 1980-81.
In total, 22 former Cougars recorded more than 60 assists in a season. They are Mark Morrison three times (61, 66 and 75), Wheeldon and Pederson twice each, Gustafson, Bridgman, Fabian Joseph (75), Geordie Robertson (72), Ken Priestlay (72), Peter Morris (72), Geoff Courtnall (73), Russ Courtnall (71), Adam Morrison (70), Torrie Robertson (66), Jeff McDill (66), Micah Aivazoff (65), Curt Fraser (64), Rich Chernomaz (64), Gary Lupul (63), Jack MacKeigan (63), Clayton Young (63), Rob Kivell (62) and Brent Hughes (61).
WHL teams played 72 regular-season games then and 68 now. Heidt has eight games remaining to move up the franchise list, and he likely will, although it is not even remotely possible for him to come near topping it, even if he were given four extra games.
The semantics of franchise records aside, Heidt is a force to contend with and has been a Royals-killer for several seasons in a one-two punch, along with Koehn Ziemmer, the 20th-ranked North American skater for the 2023 NHL draft.
“They complement each other so well,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price. “Even if they give up the puck, they jump into space to get back so quickly.”
The Cougars (31-24-5) have clinched a playoff berth. The Royals (15-39-7) have seven games remaining and are 12 points adrift of the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference behind Kelowna with the Rockets holding a game in hand. The Royals pretty much have to win out and hope Kelowna loses out.
“The mood is great. There is no heaviness [of spirit], just a lot of excitement for the challenge ahead,” said Price.
“We are only concerned about what we do and not what Kelowna does.”
ICE CHIPS: Touted Royals prospect Cole Reschny, 15, was named rookie of the year and first-team all-star in the top Under-18 league in Saskatchewan with 65 points in 34 games. Reschny, taken third overall by Victoria in the 2022 WHL prospects draft, also scored five goals with six points in six games in leading his home province to the silver medal in the recent sa国际传媒 Winter Games in P.E.I. Another Royals’ prospect, Grant Reid, captained sa国际传媒 to fourth place in the sa国际传媒 Games. “It’s too early to say they will be like Heidt and Ziemmer, but they are one day going to be two-thirds of a line and the core of our team,” said Price.
