The 2012-2013 season kicked off with a bang for the Prince George Cougars who skated to a 6-0 victory over the Everett Silvertips on Saturday night. Colin Jacobs scored three goals and added two assists, while Brett Zarowny turned aside all 25 shots he faced for his first career WHL shutout in his first ever WHL start.

Early in the first period, Everett controlled the play. They had a couple of great scoring chances, but Brett Zarowny stood tall. Zarowny’s best save came off a point-blank chance from Lucas Grayson to keep the game scoreless. The Silvertips had an early 5-1 edge in shots on goal, but everything changed at 6:43 of the first.

Colin Jacobs forced a turnover at the Everett blueline, and was hauled down on a breakway, which meant penalty shot for the 19-year-old product from Coppell, Texas. Jacobs skated in alone on Austin Lotz and made no mistake for the first Cougars goal of 2012-2013. Jacob’s night was far from over.

Towards the end of the first period, Chase Witala extended the Cougars lead to 2-0 when he tucked home an Alex Forsberg rebound. Colin Jacobs added the second assist on Witala’s first of the 2012-2013 campaign. Though they were outshot 11-9, the Cougars took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Mid-way through the second period, the Cougars would strike again. Colin Jacobs pounced on an Alex Forsberg rebound and put the puck into a wide-open net for his second of the night, which made the game 3-0 for the visitors.

Late in the second, the Cougars would add two more. Caleb Belter beat Austin Lotz on a two-on-one at 18:39 of the period, and then Colin Jacobs secured his hat-trick 34 seconds later with a powerplay marker that was assisted by Dallas Ehrhardt.

Tempers flared towards the end of the second period with Zach Pochiro and Alex Forsberg getting involved in a skirmish with Zach McPhee and Carson Stadnyk. McPhee was kicked out of the game for instigating the scrum off a faceoff.

Everett made a goaltending change to start the third. Cole Holowenko came in to replace Austin Lotz who surrendered five goals on 23 shots faced.

4:40 into the final period, Brock Hirsche scored the game’s final goal when he tapped home a pass from Colin Jacobs off a faceoff in the Everett zone. For Brock Hirsche, it was his first goal as captain of the Cougars, and it was Jacob’s fifth point of the night.

From then on, Brett Zarowny and the Cougars defense kept the door closed. Jari Erricson and Dan Gibb provided some timely shot blocks, and Brett Zarowny kept things relatively simple in goal for the rest of the way.

In the end, the Cougars outshot Everett 33-25, and finished the game one-for-eight on the powerplay. The Silvertips had only three powerplay chances, and were unsuccessful on all of them.

The Cougars will look to take the second game of this weekend set tomorrow night at 5:00 PM from the Comcast Arena in Everett.