Koehn Ziemmer flanked by goaltenders Joshua Ravensbergen (L) and Cooper Michaluk on March 22, 2025. (Image Credit: Prince George Cougars)

By Victor Kaisar

Cougars 4 Royals 3 OT

Ziemmer scores OT winner to lift Cougars past Victoria in WHL regular season finale

Mar 23, 2025 | 11:25 AM

PRINCE GEORGE — Koehn Ziemmer, the all-time leading goal scorer for the Prince George Cougars, scored the overtime winner to power his team to a 4-3 win against the Victoria Royals Saturday (March 22) night.

The 20-year-old LA Kings prospect scored 2:14 into the extra period in his final WHL regular season game as the Cougars split their weekend series with the Royals. Saturday’s game was inconsequential as the Royals clinched the BC Division title the night before.

A first round pick of the Cougars in the 2019 WHL draft, Ziemmer will end his WHL regular season career with 128 goals and 260 points in 244 games. Prince George native Chase Witala is second with 120 goals, while Riley Heidt is third with 116.

Heidt, the Cougars first round pick in the 2020 WHL draft, is the team’s all-time leader in points with 370 and assists (254) in 281 games. The Minnesota Wild prospect is eligible to return to the WHL next season as an overage player.

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Saturday night at CN Centre, the Cougars were up 2-0 after first period goals from Evan Groening and Aiden Foster, before Nolan Stewart pulled one back.

The Cats restored the two-goal lead after a point shot from Aleksey Chichkin found its way past Jayden Kraus to make it 3-1 at 1:48 of the second period.

But Victoria did not go out without a fight as power play goals from Brandon Lisowky – at 6:53 of the second – and Keaton Verhoeff – at 1:51 of the third – tied the game up at 3-3.

Ziemmer then connected off a past from Ben Riche and tapped the game winner into an open net to to give the Cougars their 41st win of the season. He also became the Cougars’ all-time leader in game winning goals with 21, surpassing former captain Eric Hunter.

The Cougars finished the 2024-25 WHL season with a 41-21-4-2 record, good for 88 points from 68 games, making this the fifth most successful season in team history. They went 24-5-3-1 at the CN Centre this season.

Cooper Michaluk stopped 21 of 24 shots to pick up his fourth consecutive win, while Jayden Kraus turned aside 33 of 37 shots in a losing effort.

Saturday also marked the final WHL regular season game for defenceman Viliam Kmec and forward Borya Valis. Kmec has played his entire WHL career in Prince George, while Valis joined the Cougars from Regina just ahead of the 2023-24 WHL trade deadline.

The Cougars will now turn their attention to the Portland Winterhawks, with games one and two of their first round playoff series scheduled for this Friday and Saturday (March 28 and 29) at CN Centre.

They will get their chance for revenge as the Winterhawks triumphed in six games in the 2024 Western Conference final. While Portland won all four meetings this season, two of those wins came in overtime and a shootout.

The two teams also haven’t played each other since Dec. 13.