Saturday night in Everett, the Prince George Cougars fell to 0-2 on the young season after an 8-3 loss to the Silvertips. Josh Winquist paced the Silvertips with three goals and an assist while Manraj Hayer and Dawson Leedahl each added two. Klarc Wilson scored twice in response for Prince George.

Four minutes into the game, the Silvertips opened the scoring on the power play. Dawson Leedahl took a pass at the right side, almost along the goal line and was able to sneak the puck past Brett Zarowny for his first of two goals on the game.

Barely over two minutes later, the Cougars responded with a goal of their own. Chase Witala raced the down the left wing and fired a shot on goal. The puck bounced right off of Austin Lotz’s pad and onto the stick of Klarc Wilson who made no mistake for his second goal of the young season.

47 seconds later the Cougars took the lead off a very similar play. Mark McNulty’s shot from the left point bounced right back out in front, and David Soltes pounced on the loose puck and buried it for his first WHL goal.

Everett would tie the game at two off another power play chance late in the first period. Matt Pufahl out waited the defense in the high slot, and fed a pass to the waiting Josh Winquist who one-timed it past Brett Zarowny for his first of the game.

Everett outshot the Cougars 16-11 in the first period, but for a second straight game, the Cougars were tied after 20 minutes.

41 seconds into the second, Everett would regain the lead when Manraj Hayer snuck into the slot and lifted a backhander past the goaltender. Then at 1:59, Josh Winquist tallied again to make the score 4-2.

Winquist’s goal spelt the end of the line for Brett Zarowny who was pulled from the game after surrendering four goals on 20 shots.

Ty Edmonds entered the game and was inundated with shots. He did his best to hold his ground, but Dawson Leedahl was able to sneak a shot past him at 8:52 to increase Everett’s lead to 5-2.

Josh Winquist completed his hat trick at 10:20 off a shorthanded breakaway and the Silvertips took a 6-2 lead into the final period.

Everett would tack on two more power play goals in the first half of the third period (Hayer and Sandhu) to give them an 8-2 advantage. But Klarc Wilson would grab the game’s final goal at 11:16 off the third off a Jordan Tkatch rebound.

Everett outshot the Cougars 42-32 and finished four-for-nine on the power play. The Cougars went scoreless on all six of their power play attempts.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 0-2 on their current three game road trip, and will look to break into the win column tomorrow in Kennewick against the Tri-City Americans.